Parental prison sentences: The invisible children

Women in Prison

Parental prison sentences: The invisible children

There is no statutory mechanism for identifying the children impacted by parental prison sentences. A 2019 estimate for England and Wales is 312,000 (Crest Advisory, 2019) but there is no government department taking responsibility for these children.

When a mother who is the sole carer is sentenced to prison the overwhelming majority of children do not remain in the family home, an experience shared by approximately 17,700 children each year. Frequently, it is grandparents taking on the care and may mean a change of area, school and leaving all that is familiar behind. As a new school place is not automatically allocated, the children may also miss out on education. They are vulnerable to emotional problems arising from shame, stigma and social isolation including bed wetting, eating disorders, displaying angry or hostile behaviours in response to complicated feelings about their experience.

Prison sentences

Many of us think parental imprisonment, happens to ‘other’ people or to families within one socio-economic group, yet families of prisoners are from a wide range of economic classes and ethnicities. For example, families who have a nanny and children attending private schools alongside those who are currently dependent on benefits. Whoever they are, the parent’s name and address will be in the press and the family may face a community backlash: faeces through the letterbox, homes being daubed with paint or bricks through the windows. Families relocate hundreds of miles away to escape the harassment, sometimes having to change their names.

Arrests

Children may experience the trauma of a dawn arrest, the police arriving at the family home, forcing entry and taking a parent away; the child will go to school that day with nobody aware of their experience. Frequently, they will not have the opportunity to say goodbye to the parent.

Role of Children Heard and Seen

Society needs to move on from an approach concentrating solely on the criminal defendant in the criminal justice system to a wider approach. Failure to do so compounds the problems for society. Children Heard and Seen is the only charity in the country with a specific focus on supporting children impacted by parental imprisonment and the people who care for them and reducing intergenerational crime.

The mission of the charity is to ensure children, young people and their families, affected by parental imprisonment can access appropriate and timely support in their community to mitigate the harms of parental imprisonment and to create lasting change in the lives of children and young people. To influence policy and create systemic change, to have statutory identification and support for children of prisoners. We will continue to develop resources and training packages to share with other professionals across England and Wales to ensure whichever service children and families come into contact with they will receive sensitive and timely support via services that are parental imprisonment curious as a minimum.

Whole family approach

Children Heard and Seen adopts a whole family approach with the child(ren) at the centre. Working from an understanding that each child is unique and requires individualised, tailored support that meets their specific needs. There are three core indicators.

1. Children with a parent in prison are supported during an incredibly difficult period in their life

2. Learning is formalised surrounding the experience of the children to build a solid evidence base for research led policy that results in the implementation of a national framework of good practice around identification and support

3. Awareness is raised regarding the experiences of children with a parent in prison to influence social attitudes and reduce feelings of stigma, shame and social isolation

Future sustainability

The charity has been well-recognised for its invaluable work, having won the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2019 and the Criminal Justice Alliance Award in 2020. However, Children Heard and Seen receives no government funding. If we fail to meet the needs of children with a parent in prison, we are at risk of creating a pathway that results in academic underachievement, contact with mental health services and ultimately the criminal justice system. We can prevent this and ensure children take a positive path that leads them to achieve their full potential. ■

Cara Mohan-Carr

Policy and Campaigns Co-ordinator Children Heard and Seen

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