[Solved] contact centers questions ,

I've been forced to see my daughters through a contact centre for over 6 months and all because I objected to my ex refusing my access to my daughters. The contact centre told me there could only be a maximum of 6 sessions every fortnight but they've allowed me to continue all this time. The staff there are kind and non-judgmental. Heck, if things were different I could even see some of them being friends. They all seem to care about the children and see that they get to see their parents - some of the parents there are mothers as well as fathers!
It's really hard - to be in a situation where you can't even walk out the door and do the normal things a dad would be able to do. My honest advice is to get things to court as quickly as possible. I believe that once the courts give you access you'll be in a much stronger position and any breach of this access will be in your favour if it goes back to court.
As Mr Slim said in a recent post you are better off cutting all ties with your ex. It's difficult but if things have deteriorated to the point of having to go to a contact centre you don't know what cards your ex will play next. By cutting contact you give them no opportunity to turn situations against you.
In the contact centre I go to there are camera's everywhere - behave yourself and treat the staff with respect. They're mostly there as volunteers I believe. I made the mistake of asking the man who runs the contact centre if I could pop out for a cigarrette halfway through the session and he said it was fine. I was gone for less than a minute and the staff watched my daughters while I was gone. The next week I popped out for a quick puff and was scolded by one of the male staff there. I explained I'd been told it was ok but it left me feeling uncomfortable so I don't smoke at all when I go now.
I understand there are low security centres (the one I go to) and higher security ones. I'm not sure who pays for it all.
Just make the most of the time you do get to see your children, get things to court, and move forward. I made a huge mistake in believing I would qualify for legal aid and despite my application being granted they then refuted this and went back on their original decision. It has taken me months to get to the point where I've realised I'm wasting my time with legal aid and I'm applying to the courts directly and intend to represent myself.

...generally the applicant would pay for using the contact centre, you could ask that the costs be shared but she is likely to object to that!

The sessions can be from 1-2 hours long, when they are supervised this will mean that the session will be with you, your child and the support worker, who will be making notes of how the session is going. There is also supported contact, which although in a contact centre, the session will be in a room with other parents and children and there will be no 1 to 1 supervision by a support worker and no reports made, so much more informal.

There are also some centres where the supported sessions are in private rooms and the cc staff just pop in now and again to check on you.

Ordinarily, depending on any safeguarding factors identified by court, you would have 6 sessions or weeks of supervised and then move to supported, before moving out in to the community.