June O' Sullivan: Why we developed a new toolkit to support prisoners’ children

According to Barnardo’s, there are up to 310,000 children every year with a parent in prison in England and Wales. While many children with a parent in prison will go on to lead happy and fulfilling lives, research shows their experiences can lead to poor physical and mental health and significant trauma, especially as some of them will have witnessed the criminal activity or even the arrest of their parent.

This all became very real for me when I had a chance conversation with one of my managers. She noticed a grandparent was bringing a child in more often and we were no longer seeing Mum. It turned out the mum was in prison and the grandparent was struggling financially and emotionally to look after her two small grandchildren.

This, of course, is not surprising as 40 per cent of children with parents in prison experience poverty.

I set out to do my research, and while there are some brilliant charities supporting families dealing with imprisonment, I couldn’t find anything specific to support early years staff working with children where the parent or close relative is in prison. No doubt this is because early years staff are generally more empathetic and resourceful and more likely to seek ways to support the children and their families quietly.

I sought support from national charity Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact), which supports prisoners, people with convictions, and their children and families. It also runs play areas for children in the prisons for when they visit.

The Pact team arranged a day at HMI Prison Isis in Thamesmead, which is a prison for young male offenders. There, we met a young dad and asked his opinion on what would help his children. For me that was important, when you hear that 65 per cent of boys with a father in prison also end up in prison.

Ten thousand children visit a parent in prison every week, and it’s scary. Toys, comforters and dummies are removed and checked and each child is sniffed by a dog. Smuggling drugs into prison is a big issue, so officers take no chances.

For some children, having a parent go to prison may mean them moving to another home. This may increase their anxiety and impact negatively on their ability to learn to demonstrate pro-social behaviours. Therefore, coming to nursery or spending time with a childminder where adult relationships are reliable, warm and safe is critical.

• LEYF has made a toolkit, sponsored by Famly and free to download at https://tinyurl.com/2ft6v96h