What is contact?

When a relationship breaks down parents will need to reach an agreement on the arrangements for the children. They will need to decide which parent the child will live with (known as the resident parent) and how often the other parent (the non-resident parent) will see the child. The time the non-resident parent spends with the child is known as 'contact'.

Contact between a parent and child can be 'direct', in other words face-to-face contact, or it may be 'indirect', such as telephone conversations, e-mails and letters. There could be 'supervised' contact, where another person is always present, or 'staying' contact, where the child will stay overnight with the non-resident parent.

Download your free leaflet on CONTACT