Carol Gerrard, 55, is a volunteer co-ordinator at Swindon Family Contact Centre in Milton Road, which is appealing for more helpers. The centre provides a safe and neutral space for contact visits between children and non-residential parents. Carol, who lives in Park South, has a partner and is a mother of three and grandmother of two.

CAROL Gerrard wanted to be a teacher when she was growing up.

In a way, she has got her wish, as she and her fellow volunteers help estranged parents to keep their children’s best interests at heart.

Users of the service, sometimes referred by courts or professionals, want somewhere neutral to hold access sessions for whichever parent doesn’t live with the child.

Often these non-residential parents are young men.

“It can be quite an arduous task at the contact centre sometimes,” said Carol.

“The young dads sometimes can be in tears and very emotional, but I think the overriding thing is that we can, for the most part, in most cases, help them move on. We can signpost them on or just support them in some way, because some of these young dads don’t know how to look after a young baby.

“They need some encouragement. They need some support.

“We have a good success rate of moving these families on to be able to have contact more amicably out in the community. I’m quite passionate about what I do and about supporting these contact parents – but also about supporting the resident parents as well.

“The problem is that when relationships break down, originally, it’s all about the relationship and the children can be a bit secondary. I know the parents don’t think of the children as secondary, but they are.”

Carol readily admits that her own background influences some of her work.

“I ran away from a very violent partner when my children were a lot younger. So I can sympathise with quite a few of the clients who come to us – the support you need and signposts into different agencies.”

Carol is originally from Worksop near Sheffield. Her father, a World War Two veteran, was a plumber, and her mother a housewife who later became a hairdresser. Carol has a younger sister.

“When I was at school I always wanted to be a teacher. I studied hard, got my O-Levels and did the first year of my A-level course, but it just wasn’t working so well for me. I went into hairdressing and did that for a number of years. I then met my ex-husband and started a family, and so really my work then was doing little cleaning jobs or anything that fitted around the children.

“That’s what I did for quite a number of years. And then when I left my ex-husband I was on my own with the children, so again, any job that was going – a bit of hairdressing, a bit of cleaning – just so I could bring my children up. Then I made a decision, probably when I was 47 years old, that I wanted to do something more. The children were growing up.

“I went to New College and they said: ‘Ooh, Child Care.’ At the time that sounded great to me, but looking back I think they could have offered something more. I enrolled to do an NVQ2 in Child Care and Development. I also got myself on to a computer course, which was a good call of mine, to do that.

“Once I’d got some qualifications in child care, Mediation Plus in Milton Road offered me the chance to do some supervised contact work with children and families. I started there and then met Angie Angus, the secretary of the support and contact centre. She asked whether I’d like to be a volunteer and I said I’d give it a go. I’ve never looked back since.”

Carol has worked at the centre for about eight years and been co-ordinator for nearly two, heading a six-strong team.

“A lot of people will say they never knew we’ve existed, but we’ve been running for just over 20 years.”

In her professional life, Carol is Senior Early Years Practitioner with West Swindon Family Centre.

“I’m quite lucky because all of the job roles I have interlink quite nicely and actually complement each other to some degree.”

At the contact centre, many of the people Carol and her fellow volunteers meet are initially unable to see beyond the issues which split them – and beyond the anger generated by those issues. This is especially true if they have just emerged from a court hearing.

“They’ve probably had quite a long battle and obviously in most cases the resident parent thinks: ‘I don’t want this to happen.’ “The thing that I enjoy is when some of the clients are quite long-standing and you see the child grow up a little bit. But you also see the child developing.

“From being a child that was a little bit frightened to go into the contact centre, and always wanting mummy or daddy, they’re quite independent. The parents can then talk a bit to each other. It’s very fulfilling when you see that because you know then that you’ve done a good job.

“You’ve made a difference.” The centre is open on Saturdays from 10am until 2pm, although potential volunteers are assured that there is some flexibility. They must undergo background checks and complete some training modules which Carol promises are not arduous.

“Part of the role of the volunteers,” she said, “is to have good listening skills and to be able to have empathy for both parties.

“They have to build a relationship so they can say to both parties: ‘Well, what about the child in this?’ At some point as you go along you’re able to do that, but it does take a while.

“They should have patience and good communication skills. It’s quite handy if they come from a child-centred environment but that’s not a necessary criterion.

“They should just be able to listen.”

Further information is available on 07900 307348.