An innovative virtual tour is helping ease fear and anxiety in children ahead of supervised family visitation thanks to two colourful and animated characters.

AnglicareSA’s Children’s Contact Services provides a safe, child-friendly space for parents going through the family court, to reconnect with their children. Supervised access is usually court ordered and involves children of all ages.

Often children have not seen their non-residential parent for a significant amount of time, may have never met them, and in some cases, there may be intervention and safety orders in place.

AnglicareSA’s Manager, Family Relationships, Michael Hawke, said children were often anxious and sometimes fearful of the visits and although the service was delivered in a neutral setting it was still unknown to the child and the residential parent.

“These services are hosted within four centres across Adelaide,” Michael said. “To support the children accessing these sites, we have developed a digital tour for each individual site, and these are much more than the real estate tours you might be familiar with.

“Two characters, Kai and Bing, talk children through the tour and there are areas of the tour that can be clicked on to learn more, including other short videos.

“Children have 360-degree control of the camera as they navigate through the child-friendly spaces, which is important as Bing has decided to hide in each room and children are invited to try and find all of his hiding places.”

With the tour filmed and produced from the perspective of a child, Michael said it showcased the centres as an inviting space to play and connect, rather than a transactional handover space that is unfamiliar.

The tours enable the residential parent to be able to talk through the service and upcoming visit with the child, using the tour as a game, in the comfort of their own home.

“In addition to the tours, which are designed for the children aged five and above, we have developed a picture book with the same characters that can introduce younger children to the centre,” Michael said.

“These books have lots of pictures, and children can flick through the pages themselves, or have an adult guide them through.”