How we are funded

Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre is one of approx. 300 dedicated, independent centres accredited to and by the National Association of Child Contact Centres across the UK.

In Northern Ireland, we are the only child contact centre accredited by NACCC - you can be assured of a quality service, in the only truly bespoke facilities including a professional sensory room for anxious or neurodiverse children and babies.

We do not make any charge for our services - once referred to us, assessed and the induction process is completed, families use our facilities free of charge. We also make our facilities available to external bodies such as Social Services for one-to-one use for supervised contact at a small fee for the room hire, which includes a wide range of age appropriate toys, games and other equipment (we do not offer supervised contact ourselves).

In order to provide our services, we are part funded by the Northern Health and Social Trust. We are also very grateful to the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Albert Hunt Trust for their continued support in funding our facilities.

We are constantly seeking new and innovative ways to raise vital funds to continue supporting families referred to us from across Northern Ireland. On average, it costs us around £50 an hour to provide our services. Whilst some of that is met from our grantors, we still need to raise the remaining funds ourselves.

Some of the ways we have raised funds include:

• some of our Trustees abseiling off the roof of the Europa Hotel, Belfast

• a substantial donation from We Run Wild NI who organised a marathon in support of our centre

• a sponsored six hour static cycle ride at our centre

• bucket collection at Carrick Rangers FC

EVERY PENNY raised stays with our centre, providing a vital service for many families.

We very much welcome donations which can be made safely and securely online (which can be made via the 'donate here' button found at the bottom of the pages on this website, via our secure payment facility provided by SumUp) or at our office at 13 West Street, Carrickfergus.

We also welcome fundraising ideas and events from the public - please contact our manager Emma at our office, by email or phone (contact details at the bottom of the page).

Sponsorship is also very welcome - please contact our chairperson Tony Barclay MBE to discuss in more detail: chairperson@carrickccc.co.uk