Families in crisis are to get help from a new service launched this week.

A contact centre is opening at Bingley Baptist Church to help children and their families cope with separation and family breakdowns.

Lianne Coates, co-ordinator at the Bingley Child Contact Centre, said: "There are a growing number of children who are losing contact with their family members.

"Contact in families breaks down for all sorts of reasons, most typically when parents divorce," she said.

"It could also be that children are living away from their parents with grandparents for some reason."

Mrs Coates said the contact centre aims to be a stepping stone for helping families find their own way through difficult circumstances.

The project will be run by a management committee and 12 volunteers.

"We have equal male and female volunteers which is great because we wanted the centre to be equally accessible to men and women," said Jim Small, of Bingley, who played a key part in setting up the centre.

It has been funded by Bingley Beacon Project and Bingley Baptist Church.

John Gleghorn, pastor at Bingley Baptist Church, said: "The centre is part of a new initiative for the church as its members continue to serve the community."

The Bingley service is part of the National Association of Child Contact Centres.

Other child contact centres already operate in Buttershaw, Keighley and Shipley.

"It is partly due to the success of the others that this one has opened," said Mrs Coates.

All children and their families will be referred to the service.

"Referrals could come via a solicitor, a court, a child's school, social services or even the health service," she said.

The centre will be launched on Friday and will open officially on Saturday.

It will then operate every Saturday from 2pm.

Chairman Patsy Flannigan, who works as associate counsellor at the University of Bradford, said: "My position at the centre will be very much as an overseer.

"But I will also help to support and advise new volunteers."