North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has urged the Welsh Government to support Child Contact Centres and prevent further costs in the future.
Child Contact Centres are places where non-resident parents may have supervised or supported contact with their child or children.
Mr Isherwood is concerned that funding for them is “disappearing” which will impact on other services, generating far higher costs further down the road.
Raising the matter with the Communities Minister in the Assembly this week, he said: “As you will be aware, funding for Child Contact Centres is disappearing. The National Association of Child Contact Centres has responded to the Welsh Government’s offer of a one-off transitional sum of £2,000 by saying that this misses the fundamental point of the need for the centres to be funded for the work they do and will continue to do, and ‘Relate’ state that the rate of family breakdown in general has not reduced and that the associated problems remain.
“Given that your ministerial responsibilities include family support and children and young people’s rights and entitlements, how do you respond to concern that cutting this funding for specialist intervention, supporting families through relationship breakdown, will impact on other services, generating far higher costs further down the road for health, education and social services and, of course, a far, far higher cost for the children concerned themselves?”
The Minister replied: “Mediation to families is not a devolved issue. It is a reserved matter led by the Ministry of Justice, and I know that Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) Cymru have reduced the funding, but I have to say that the referrals to them have reduced significantly also.”
Mr Isherwood added:
“It seems odd that a Welsh Government Minister should appear to be unaware that CAFCASS Cymru is not only devolved to Wales, but also an arm of the Welsh Government. Despite fewer families having the opportunity to be supported by CAFCASS Cymru, family break down rates are not reducing.”