Working with children with a parent in prison

The challenges faced by the 200,000 children in the UK (Williams, 2012) who are in any one year affected by parental imprisonment are beginning to be recognised. But although there is now a developing recognition of the situation and needs of this very vulnerable group, there is only relatively limited published practice knowledge about working with them. This is particularly the case in terms of community-based practice. The majority of services for the children and families of prisoners are what could be referred to as ‘point of contact’ services, that is, they focus on the point of contact between the prisoner and the family – most significantly visiting at the prison.

Point of contact services are of course crucial for the child’s welfare, and their immediate experiences of prisons. But typically they do not engage with the whole child – the child who returns to the family, community or school and for whom parental imprisonment can be a continuing distress and represent ongoing difficulties. Furthermore, ‘point of contact’ services cannot support or meet the needs of those children who do not, or are not able to visit the imprisoned parent.

Reproduced with permission from Barnardo's, 2013