We require both parents/carers to enter into this Agreement with Children in FOCUS (CIF) and complete and sign the Application Form. We cannot provide services to families if one of the parties fails to sign and return the agreement to us. We can discuss any part of this agreement with you if you wish.
I agree that location, venue, time and date of the visit, the activities, dietary requirements, sunscreen application, other people attending the visit and all other things is responsibility of both parents to discuss and agree upon prior to signing this agreement. Children in FOCUS must be advised of it in writing as it is not our responsibility to negotiate between the parties. We are here to provide impartial supervision and make factual notes. If we do not have any of the above in writing
CIF will do as we see appropriate.
I agree that Children in FOCUS can not be responsible for administration of the medicine. All the medication administration arrangements must be made between the parents before contact occurs and needs to be in writing form either parent to Children in Focus.
I agree that Children in FOCUS may amend this Agreement at any time. Such changes can be policy and operation updates or as required by law. If we make significant changes which may impact on you we will notify you in writing and provide the copy of the updated version of the Agreement. Any changes to the Agreement will be effective seven days after the copy has been provided to you.
Our responsibilities to you
We will:
1. Stay neutral and impartial at all times.
2. We will do our best to arrive on time (please be understanding if we are late due to traffic or other unforeseen circumstances).
3. Ensure your child/ren safely interacts with the other parent.
4. Constantly monitor conversations and observe all interactions between the children, parents and others by always being in the close proximity to the child and parent and making comprehensive notes.
5. Accompany parents and children everywhere during the visit, including to bathrooms and change rooms. We will intervene immediately in the event of inappropriate/unsafe conduct and terminate the contact visit and return the children to their carer/parent if necessary.
6. Provide feedback to the primary carer if specifically asked and it is appropriate and relevant to the child’s care and not invade confidentiality of the other parent.
7. Assist & Guide parents with the care of children when they are failing to respond to the child/ ren’s needs and safety.
8. Support parents and children to facilitate a positive and safe interaction.
9. Provide qualified supervisors who have working with children check and police clearance.
10. Do our best to provide the same supervisor for consistency however life is unpredictable and people get sick, go on leave, have emergencies or move on, in such circumstances any available supervisor will be allocated to supervise the visit. You must understand and accept the allocated supervisor.
11. Prepare comprehensive report about the supervised visit including time, date, who attended, what activities took place, conversations, interactions, behaviour displayed by children and discipline techniques implemented. Such reports can be used in Court. They are compulsory and each parent must pay for the report. The estimated delivery time of each report is 7 working days from the date of the visit. Reports are emailed to you and your lawyers. CIF reserve the right not to release the reports to the parents but can release it directly to the court or an Independent Children’s Lawyer.
12. If an urgent report is required it can be requested in writing for urgent delivery within 2 days for an additional fee of $50. Reports are final and will not be amended. If you wish to dispute the accuracy of the report, an administrative dispute fee of $150 must be paid for management to look into the matter. All information provided to us by either party is confidential and will not be disclosed unless both parties provide us with written permission to realise the information.
13. We provide contact visits and changeovers at a location that suits both parents and can also recommend an age appropriate, safe & practical venue at the time of booking. To ensure that each visit is safe and meets each child’s needs we require 1 supervisor per 3 children ratio. Additional supervisor will need to be booked and paid for if you have more that 3 children. Children under 12 month require their own supervisor.
14. If the time and date the parents agreed on or the time and date are set in the court orders is not available, CIF will nominate the time and location of the visit according to our availability and parents must make themselves and children available to attend the visit.
15. From time to time CIF staff will take photos during the visit for marketing purposes to show other clients where we hold our visits. The faces of the children and parents will be blurred out before being posted on social media.
Our Expectations of Parents
I understand and I will:
16. Take all the necessary steps to facilitate the smooth occurrence of the supervised contact for the other party. I will positively encourage my child/ren to attend the visit and engage with the supervised parent.
17. Pay invoices in a timely manner. Administrative fees such as excessive calls, emails, text messages, booking changes, invoice reminders anything that falls outside the usual scheduling process will be charged to the person initiating it at the hourly rate in our price list.
18. Treat the other parent with respect and be reasonable and flexible.
19. Be on time and be polite and respectful with CIF staff and others involved in the contact.
20. Be prepared for visits: bring healthy food/snacks and drinks for your child/ren and be mindful of any allergies of your and other children.
21. Bring toys, books, coloring books and games to play with your child. Be mindful what toys I bring to avoid disappointment as I understand my child/ren most likely will want to take the toys with them to the other parent’s house.
22. Ensure I have sufficient funds to pay for myself, my child/ren and the supervisor to enter venues, movies, theme parks, play centers etc.
23. Do not bring third parties to visits unless prior consent is obtained from us and the other parent and we have been notified in writing of the names and copies of IDs of the people attending and we have agreed to that. We reserve the right to allow additional visitor/s if we see appropriate in the circumstances.
24. Follow directions of your supervisor and do not engage in lengthy conversations with your supervisor in the presence of children and do not discuss your family law proceedings with the supervisor.
25. Apply sunscreen on my child/ren and provide them with a hat.
26. Advise the supervisor/CIF of the contact locations and activities for the upcoming visit via email or text 48 hours prior to the visit. All activities are subject to our approval. High-risk activities such as horse riding, quad bike riding, motorbike riding, skateboarding, open water swimming are not allowed during the visit. Bike riding/scooter riding/Bathing/Showering/swimming at the pool activities must be agreed with the residential parent in writing and approved by CIF a least two days before such activity takes place. It is the parents' responsibility to make sure their children are safe while participating in the activities during the visit and provide protective gear for the children.
27. I will make my child available for child reviews interviews when required by CIF. If such a review is scheduled we have a friendly chat with the child independently to see how they are going with supervision.
28. I will not approach or follow the other parent at the changeover. I will stay 50+ meters away at the changeover.
29. Residential parent must leave the location of the visit straight after the changeover took place and be more then 200 meters away and out of sight of the child and supervised parent.
Termination of Visit
30. At Children in Focus, the children’s safety and well-being are paramount. We will immediately terminate the supervised visit, if in our view, it becomes too stressful or traumatic for the child. Such situations include but are not limited:
31. Discussing Court proceedings with the child or in the presence of the child.
32. Speaking negatively about the other parent, your child/ren, our staff or other family members in the presence of the child/ren.
33. Verbally or physically abusing child, supervisor or others.
34. Acting aggressively or abusively towards supervisor or others and failing to comply with directions of the supervisor.
35. Threatening your child/ren with physical discipline.
36. Ignoring supervisors' directions.
37. Smoke or consume alcohol in the presence of your child/ren.
38. We will not commence the contact visit if any of the family members are deemed to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
39. Our supervisors have the discretion to end or continue the visit as they see appropriate in the circumstances and in the best interest of the child.
40. If you wish to cancel or reschedule a booked supervised visit, for any reason (work, sick etc), you must give us at least 48 hours notice prior to the visits to avoid the late cancelation fee of two hours relevant to the day of contact.
41. If our supervisor turns up to the visit and one of the parties does not bring the child or the visit is not going ahead other then by our fault we will deduct the no-show fee for the full duration of the visit booked.
42. The parent who cancels the visit, does not turn up or does not bring the child to the visit and does not give us notice as described above is responsible for the payment of our fees for that visit.
43. Medical Certificates must be provided to us and the lawyer of the other parent if cancelation is due to a medical reason. Please note even if you have a Medical Certificate the cancelation fee still will be charged if notice is given less than 48 business hours prior to the visit.
44. Repeated cancellation of visits or breaches of this agreement, unpaid invoices for our services, not bringing children to the scheduled visits/ as per court orders may lead to termination of our services. The other parent, solicitors, ICL and the court will be informed of the reasons for our decision.
Terminating this Agreement
Children in FOCUS may terminate this Agreement at any time without notice or explanation if:
45. There is a repeated failure to pay our fees.
46. One of the parties is obnoxious, demanding, putting a strain on our limited resources, and rude or abusive towards the staff.
47. There are repeated breaches of the Terms of this Agreement.
48. We are unable to meet the specific needs of your child/ren or your family.
49. We are concerned that visits are not in the best interest of your child/ren.
50. You may terminate this Agreement by giving Children in FOCUS 7 business days notice in writing. If you have paid for the visit and canceled our service in less than 7 business days, you will forfeit the money paid for the booked visit, as we lost an opportunity to offer our service to another family and have to pay our staff for making themselves available to cover the planned visit.
Enquiries
51. In Children in FOCUS we are committed to making your experience with our services as pleasant as possible. If you have any questions please direct all your inquiries in writing to the management or call us during business hours. Do not discuss any issues with the supervisor during the visitation hours. Our management team will deal with any concerns raised in a respectful and efficient matter. Please be respectful to our staff as we are here to help you.
52. Please sign the Application Form and Service Agreement and send it back to us as soon as possible so we can make an assessment of whether we can be of assistance to you and your child/ren. We will notify you of our decision by phone or in writing within 48 hours. If we can provide the service we will schedule a phone intake interview with each parent separately.
53. Please ensure you have an agreement with the other parent on the location/venue and dates of the visits as we can not negotiate that for you. You will be directed to reach an agreement before we can commence the visitation.
54. All current schedules are permanent. Any variations including illness, holidays, misadventure, work commitments etc must be negotiated between legal teams with an agreed outcome submitted to CIF for approval.
55. A variation fee will be charged for each variation. Variations will not be accepted unless both parties agree through legal teams and 5 working days notice is given to CIF for approval. Any change within 5 days of the visit will include an additional fee, including last-minute requests and after-hours work if required.
56. Last minute changes will not be accommodated without a reasonable notice period given (5 working days before the requested visit)
57. Clients will not contact supervisors except to confirm a visit or notify of late arrival. All other correspondence must be emailed to the CIF office between business hours. Failure to abide by this may result in a review of your service agreement with CIF and termination. Supervisors will ONLY respond to late arrivals or clarification of the agreed changeover location.
58. No transportation of children is available due to Covid and Insurance.
59. Clients MUST ensure the visit ends on time for the supervisor to leave at the scheduled time. This involves the residential parent arriving a minimum of 5 minutes early for the supervisor to arrive on time to the visiting parent, and finishing the visit 5 minutes early for the supervisor to complete the changeover to the residential parent on time. A late fee of $15 will be charged for every 5 minutes over the scheduled time and must be paid before the following visit. Too many parents and children delay the end of visitation putting pressure on supervisors. This includes preparing children with a reasonable amount of time to have a memorable/positive goodbye and being firm with children of the visit timeframe requirements.
60. Late arrival of the residential parent or visiting parent will incur a fee of $15 for every 5 minutes by the applicable party in order for the arranged schedule timeframe to be achieved on current or future visits.
61. If we cannot abide by days/times on your Court orders, it is the clients responsibility to seek advice from legal teams to fit in with CIF's availability.
62. Ongoing failure to abide by the above-updated rules and regulations will result in extra fees and termination of CIF services will be considered.
63. Weekend visits must be confirmed and booking finalised by 2:00 pm by Thursday. If the booking has not been finalised or one of the parents has not responded the booking is deemed canceled. This will allow us to offer service to another family and for you not to pay the cancellation fee.
64. All conversations to and from CIF will be recorded for training and security purposes which can be subpoenaed by the Court at any time.
65. Prices are subject to change at any time without notice.