A family cannot book a visit at a Valencian family contact centre on its own initiative. Access to the network begins with a judicial or administrative decision stating that contact must take place with this support. It is a free, professional and temporary resource, not a public drop-in venue or a mediation service that replaces the court.
The beneficiary is the child or young person whose family relationship is being facilitated. The users are the parents, relatives or other close people included in the contact arrangements. The purpose is not indefinite surveillance but protection of the child’s physical and emotional safety while working, where possible, towards contact without external support.
From a protected handover to a supervised visit
Valencian law sets out three forms of intervention. With supervised handovers, contact takes place elsewhere and the centre is used only for collection and return. A supervised visit takes place with direct attention or the continuous presence of the technical team. Exceptionally, and as a step towards ending the intervention, a supervised visit may take place outside the centre, but only with judicial or administrative authorisation.
The interdisciplinary team may provide psychological, social, educational, legal or mediation support. It also coordinates with courts, social services, police, health services and schools where the case requires it. Special security arrangements apply when a protection order is in force. A centre cannot facilitate contact where visiting rights have been suspended by a court.
Contact from the centre follows the formal decision
The court or child-protection authority sends the referral to the territorial directorate with details of the people involved, the form of intervention, expected duration and timetable. The Generalitat’s coordination instruction provides for the directorate to forward the case to the appropriate centre and for a named professional to arrange initial interviews. These take place separately before visits begin, explain the rules and inform the intervention plan.
Families do not select times as they would for an ordinary appointment. Sessions are organised within the terms of the decision and the centre’s capacity. Incidents and progress are added to the file, and the team reports to the referring authority. The instruction recommends an initial period of no more than 18 months and allows reasoned six-month extensions; only the judicial or administrative authority can change or end the measure.
The Generalitat operates judicial and child-protection contact centres across all three provinces. Assignment depends on the kind of referral and territorial area, so families should neither choose a site solely by proximity nor arrive without an appointment. If a decision already exists but no contact has arrived, the right reference is the authority that ordered the measure or the provincial social-services directorate, rather than a general application to join the network.