Top Ten Tips on Managing Contact

 Ten Top Tips on Managing Contact
 Henrietta Bond
 BAAF,
 ISBN 9781905664207
 £7.95

 Star rating: 4/5

This book is specifically about children who are adopted or living in long-term foster places.

Methodical and exploratory in its approach, with a well-organised layout, it is full of probing bullet-pointed questions to reflect upon, good practice checklists, case studies and quotes. Contact in public law is also addressed with sensitivity and clarity.

Broken down into chapters based on 10 top tips, it is an ideal practitioner’s handbook.

It is child centred and recognises that “contact isn’t set in stone but is a flexible process”. Contact is continually set in the context of the child’s viewpoint. In-depth questions prompt thinking relevant to many settings, emphasising a balanced, flexible and individualised approach to contact decisions.

Contact centres are not mentioned in the chapter on choosing venues and activities, nor elsewhere. While the National Association of Child Contact Centres works to ensure the quality of child contact centres, but is not listed in the useful organisations section. The book’s thorough approach was, inevitably for me, marred by that.

Nevertheless, this reasonably priced reference book will provide straightforward, accessible information for new and existing practitioners alike.

Yvonne Kee is chief executive, National Association of Child Contact Centres