II. Staff-Offender Contacts

Collateral Contact Development

Another purpose of conducting a home contact is the development of collateral contacts. Valuable relationships with family members, friends, neighbors and other community members are best built when staff meets them in their own environment where they are most comfortable and where staff can better observe their relationship with offenders.

Home contacts are an extremely useful tool, but staff should not lose sight of the issue of safety. In many situations, conducting home contacts will not be overtly dangerous. But staff always should be aware of their surroundings, for their own safety as well as the safety of the offender and anyone around them. When performed correctly, home contacts offer an immense amount of valuable information to staff.