From 1 April 2027, child contact services in Scotland will be regulated by the Care Inspectorate. This is an important new step to help make sure children, young people and families get safe and caring support. We follow five trauma-informed principles: safety, trust, choice, collaboration and empowerment.

What is a child contact service?

A child contact service is a safe place where a child or young person can spend time with family members they do not live with. Staff or volunteers help make these visits calm, safe and supportive. Some services help children move safely between family members. Some supervise visits and share information with courts. Some also help families stay in touch online when they cannot meet in person.

Child contact services run by local authority social work services will not be regulated in this way. We would still welcome interest from these services and anyone who would like to follow this work as it develops.

We need you

We would like your help as this work moves forward. Please share this message through your networks so we can reach child contact services across Scotland.

If you run a child contact service, we would be very pleased to hear from you at childcontactservices@careinspectorate.gov.scot.

We will be able to support you before you need to register with us.

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