1. SW Prisons Review of the Children and Families Pathway
Polly Wright, Barnardo’s
Unfortunately our prison colleagues who worked on this review with us and are now leading on the implementation of the recommendations were unable to be here today with us – so I hope I do them justice in terms of talking about this piece of work.
I also know that there are individuals in audience today who are part of the implementation team taking the recommendations forward – so please feel free to add anything at the end of the presentation that I have left out!

2. Why review the Children and Families Pathway?
Impact on re-offending and intergenerational offending
Prisoners who have visits from family 39% less likely to re-offend (MoJ, 2008)
Two thirds of boys with a father in prison will go on to offend.
Policy recognition re. impact on re-offending – NOMS Commissioning Intentions (2014), Transforming Rehabilitation (2013), Criminal Justice Joint Inspection on Resettlement (September 2014).
From a criminal justice perspective there is clear evidence that children and families play a key role in the rehabilitation of offenders with research suggesting that 39% of offenders who receive regular family visits are less likely to reoffend.
We know that positive family relationships can have a significant impact of offender behaviour, mental health and motivation to change and they play a far wider role than simply supporting effective resettlement. Families need to be considered not just in those final stages of an offender’s journey but as a vital piece in the jigsaw throughout that journey.
Read quotes from offenders.
I am sure anyone in this room who works in the criminal justice system will be aware of intergenerational offending and the impact of parental offending on the likelihood of children moving into criminal behaviour themselves. Identifying the children of offenders and ensuring they receive support and interventions as early as possible is therefore key in breaking this cycle.
Policy continues to highlight the role of the family in successful offender rehabilitation and the undertaking of the Farmer Review simply serves to highlight the further step change in acknowledging the important part they play.

3. ‘My family have been the backbone of my sentence for me
‘My family have been the backbone of my sentence for me.’ (Offender) ‘If there is anything in this world which will make a difference, it is being a father.’ (Offender) ‘If you are going to get a prisoner to change then you have to have the backing of their family… if you can get families involved and signposted and children safeguarded… it changes a prisoners idea of what you’re doing if you involve the family – they become more compliant.’ (Prison staff)

4. Significant numbers visiting prisons:
10,000 children visit prisons every week.
7% of children will see a father go to prison during their school years
Negative impact on children’s outcomes:
2x more likely to suffer from mental health issues.
Significant stigma and isolation with negative school experiences.
Risk of financial instability and housing disruption.
Barnardo’s, along with many of the agencies sat in this room, will also suggest that we need to consider this from the other side of the prison gates – the impact that parental offending will have on a child and families outcomes.
10,000 children visit our public prisons in England and Wales every week and it is estimated that 7% of children will see their father go to prison during their school years.
This represents really significant numbers and yet we know that most Local Authorities will not be able to provide a figure of the number of children with a parent in prison within their locality.
This is significant and concerning, given that research and our practice has clearly demonstrated the impact that parental offending can have on children and young people:
They are twice as likely to suffer from poor mental health – anxiety, frustration, anger, bereavement and uncertainty are all common emotions shared by many children affected by parental offending.
The stigmas and isolation that these families feel is one of the key reasons why those families who are not already the concern of social care services, often remain invisible and are reluctant to inform services or request support and information.

5. Aim of the review
Map current service provision – from induction to resettlement.
Identify effective practice
Identify gaps in service provision and areas for development
Develop recommendations for the development of the children and families pathway across the region.
So that is why we felt that the review was vital.
Andy Rogers approached us to undertake the review along with colleagues from National Offender Management Service. It was not a piece of research and not an evaluation of what currently existed – but rather an exercise to create a picture of what was being done to support offenders’ families across the estate.
It aimed to:

6. Process Site visits to 9 establishments.
Focus group with senior staff team.
Focus group and interviews with frontline staff and partner agencies.
Interviews with Listeners and Insiders
Observation of visit process.
Prison staff 95
Probation/through the gate providers 9
Voluntary sector partner staff 15
Listeners and Insiders 30

7. Findings, Recommendations and next steps
Data gathering and identification
‘It is offender-led really… if they don’t offer the information we don’t push it.’ (Prison officer)
Information is being gathered and recorded regarding CAPO but not consistently or systematically across the region.
Snapshot data gathering exercise.
Development of guidance.
Unfortunately I do not have the time to go through the review in any great detail – but I just thought I would give you an overview of the keyfindings, recommendations and what has been implemented as a result.
Andy Rogers has signed off all 8 of the recommendations that were made by the report and there is a regional Children and Families Pathway Implementation Team that now meets monthly to plan how the recommendations can be implemented across the SW estate. The group is made up of both prison staff (in the main Heads of Reducing Reoffending) and partner agencies such as Barnardo’s, EDP, Choices, Spurgeons and the CRC – Working Links.
One of the key areas we looked at was how prisons currently record whether offenders have children. We know that this information should now be being gathered via the Basic Custody Screening Tool, however when we looked at the figures – establishments on average had records that showed that only 17% of the prison population had children. What we found during the review was that information regarding offenders’ children and families was gathered by various agencies and departments within prisons – the chaplaincy, parenting programme providers, induction processes, substance misuse assessments… but this information was not always routinely recorded or shared in a systematic way.
From our work in local authorities – one of the key challenges we face in encouraging services to recognise the needs of children of offenders is the lack of data available – to recognise the level of need.
The implementation team is addressing this area by:
Undertaking a snap shot data gathering exercise where all establishments over a set week (in the New Year) will be required to collate consistent data about the children and families visiting their establishments. Age, ethnicity, distance travelled, relationship to offender and resident local authority. I think this will be incredibly valuable data - both for the prisons but also for local authorities. Simply the number of school aged children visiting our prisons during the week will highlight important issues which we need to address.
The second area we are looking at is the creation of clear guidance about how information regarding offenders’ children should be recorded on NOMIS and the value of sharing this information across departments/units/staff and interventions.

8. 2. Partnership working
Prisons acknowledged vital role of partnerships and were keen to do more.
Required more knowledge about what services are available (internal and external to prisons).
Resource challenges.
‘Not knowing where to signpost to in the community, if for example, a mother is struggling – we don’t know about the local services.’
Prison staff were more than aware of the benefits and need to work in partnership with other agencies to support the needs of children and families and there were some really positive examples of where this was happening – Children Centre staff delivering creche facilities in visit halls (which had led to an increase in referrals from families affected by parental imprisonment for the Children Centres).
Saying that there was the acknowledgement that much more needed to be done to establish improved partnerships and the loss of prisons posts such as Partnership Officers and the current strain on prison resources were both highlighted as challenges in developing this way of working. Staff admitted that they required more knowledge about what services were out there to support the children and families of offenders and even within individual prisons we found that staff did not always know what was available for families of offenders.
In terms of actions:
From next year, all prisons in the SW will have an obligation to deliver at least one presentation a year at their full staff meetings about children and families of offenders. We have developed a template for the session (which will be consistent across the region) and it will be an opportunity for prison staff to hear about what support is available for offenders regarding children and families and for partner agencies to feed into this.
We also hope that the new commissioning of children and families services across clusters of prisons will encourage prisons to work together to identify local strategic partnerships.
The implementation team is also mapping the funding opportunities that prisons have drawn upon through their partnership working – so that establishments can learn from one another and be more aware of the opportunities that are available to them.

9. 3. Visit provision
Quality, resources and frequency varied significantly.
Visit processes need to be reviewed to ensure efficiency and child-centredness.
Benefits of consistent visit staff team.
Communication with families is key.
Again - there were some really good examples of visit centre provision – visit centres with detailed information for adults and children as to what to expect on a prison visit, service directory folders on tables in visit centres to ensure that families had the opportunity to find out about support services in their local areas and play areas that were clean, well stocked, staffed and enabled children to relax and play with their parents.
Unfortunately, provision was not consistent across the estate and families could have vastly different experiences when visiting a loved when moving within the prison estate – just as they might get used to one visit process – knowing that there will be refreshments on arrival, toys for their children to play with – this all might change when their partner moves to another establishment – further heightening the anxiety and uncertainty that many of these families feel.
The provision of Family Visits, for example – from 3 in one establishment to 12 a year in another – this could prove very frustrating for offenders and their families. There was also a disparity in which offenders had access to family visits – with only enhanced in some establishments.
We also highlighted the need to not just focus on the delivery of a welcoming visit centre for families but also to concentrate on the process – we observed families, after being welcomed into a well resourced visit centre, then having to wait unsheltered for 40 minutes, some with babies in their arms, as they queued to go through security. Families were often so keen to be first in the queue that they chose not to use visit facilitates and wait outside.
Visit staffing was also raised as an issue with only 2 of the 9 prisons saying that they tried to ensure visits were staffed by a consistent group of staff – others sited the prison regime and current strain on prison resources as reasons for this not happening. Despite this, it was acknowledged by staff and families that consistent staffing only benefits the establishment of positive relationships with families, contributes to effective safeguarding, helps ensure a conistent approach to visits and enables training re children and families to be targeted to visit staff.
In terms of communication with families – the majority of families said that they would have liked additional information about the prison visit. In the main families felt that they had been treated well by prison staff and we observed some fantastic practice in terms of making children and families feel welcomed as relaxed as possible. however there were still examples shared of them being made to feel like criminals themselves.

10. ‘I didn’t get any information about what we could bring in… what I can put in the change bag… I just sussed it out myself.’
‘The search is fine… they have a laugh with you. At [previous prison] I felt like I was being treated like a criminal.’
‘’When I am outside playing in the garden with my kids [at the visit hall], I am not in prison, I was just outside with my young ones.’
‘For the older children, 7 and 8 year olds, there is not much for them to do… I feel sorry for them because they have got so much energy.’ ‘
Some of the key action being taken forward is to create clear consistent guidance around the provision of family visits which encourages prisons in the region to make them available for all offenders.
Many of the more practical recommendations have been included in the specification for provision of children and family services going forward and it is hoped that the establishment of a Children and Families steering group for the region (which I will speak about in a moment) will help to ensure improved consistency and sharing of good practice.

11. 4. Programmes and interventions
‘Storybook Dad’s is just brilliant.. It is a magnificent tool. For me it is the best thing that has happened in prison.’
‘Having a family outreach worker built into the contract has been a real bonus – there are well publicised avenues open for support.’
Value in externally commissioned child and family support.
Need for interventions throughout offender journey.
‘Visits just maintain family ties – they don’t let you build them.’ (Offender)
Again there was disparity across the estate in terms of what was being delivered and it was clear that where external agencies had been commissioned to provide family support, children and families were more fully embedded into each stage of an offenders’ journey – examples of children and family information boards on wings was an example of how this had been done effectively.
Prison staff highlighted the expertise and knowledge that external agencies brought with them and the value they added to establishments but also highlighted that it was important that they are embedded into the prison structure rather than as bolt-on extra’s to the prison
There were some great examples of children and families not only being considered in terms of one off interventions but also in respect of how they could be integrated into other elements of the prison delivery – for example in celebration events at the end of education courses.
Establishments also suggested that there was a gap in support for offenders and their families at the point of resettlement and felt that interventions such as family group conferencing would be welcome addition to enable more meaningful involvement of families at this point in the offender journey.
Again there were some excellent examples of practice – but a need to share good practice and consider the needs of children and families throughout sentences to enable relationships to be sustained and developed. The review recommended that there was a more detailed analysis of what works in terms of child/family interventions, further clarity about the role of CRCs in supporting offenders families at the point of resettlement and an improved sharing of good practice across the prison estate.
With the commissioning of children and families services the implementation team waits to see the outcome of the procurement process before leading on this area, however it has been heartening to see prisons take the recommendations into account when developing their specifications.

12. 5. Information for offenders
‘They are received into reception with a lot of information – there is nothing specifically about children and families.’
Where external agencies commissioned, offenders received more information.
Need for development of consistent information in range of formats for offenders throughout offender journey.
Where external agencies were delivering family support in establishments there tended to be a session on induction about the support available regarding family relationships. None of the prisons however reported that they included any information about support for children and families in their induction packs or about the impact of parental imprisonment.
The implementation team is working on developing a set of resources that can be used across the region including posters about considering the needs of children and families and the support on offer to be displayed on wings, guidelines for induction session on children and families and an information leaflet to include in induction packs.

13. 6. Child Safeguarding
Child safeguarding concerns often passed to external child/family providers.
Need for child-specific safeguarding policy and protocol.
Need for additional training and awareness.
‘There is no guidance as to what we should do… but generally I deal with what goes on in the inside and not on the outside.’
‘It is difficult for staff to feel confident in reporting as the repercussions are so serious.’
‘Safeguarding is something we need to get on top of… it is about training and awareness raising.’
This has been one of the key concerns for the implementation team. The review found that only 2 of the establishments we visited were able to provide us with a specific child safeguarding policy (rather than a general public protection or safeguarding policy) – although agencies delivering within the prisons had their own protocols in place. Although the majority of staff felt that they would know what to do if there was a safeguarding concern there was a general feeling that there was a lack of protocol in place to ensure consistent practice.
Where external agencies were delivering the visit centre or family support – prisons often relied on that agency to provide guidance or support regarding any arising child safeguarding concerns.
Targetted training for staff most likely to observe safe guarding concerns in the visit halls was difficult due to the lack of consistent visit teams.
The implementation team is just in the final stages of developing a safeguarding policy and protocol template that all prisons will have to have in place and make locally responsive. All prisons will also be required to have an identified single point of contact for child safeguarding who will be identified in their safeguarding policy and promoted across the establishment. Links to Local Safeguarding Board safeguarding training have been shared with establishments and the team is looking at ways to ensure key staff receive training across the region.

14. 7. Culture
‘Is it important to us? Yes it is and we used to be able to do it to a tee and now we can’t - it is a lot more difficult to help prisoners nowadays.’ ‘It needs to be a key performance target so that prisons have to put the resources in.. At the moment it feels like an afterthought.’ ‘We think about [children and families] from a security perspective – that’s what we are about and that’s not necessarily right – we could soften our approach.’
Prison staff across the south west suggested that there was still some way to go before children and families became embedded into prison service culture, however across the board there was the acknowledgement of the value of this work and a commitment to its development in the future.
We found that in those establishments such as Eastwood Park where staff considered children and families a key part of their roles the culture was far more developed (as you would expect in the female estate).
The current challenges of service delivery in the prison estate were identified, by some, to be a significant barrier to considering new ways of working – with staff describing themselves as disillusioned and frustrated.
Despite this examples of establishments trying develop this culture were there – with some identifying reducing intergenerational offending as a strategic priority and others delivering staff away days focused entirely on developing work with offenders children and families.
The implementation team have sought to address this and are aiming to develop ‘Children and Family Champions’ in each establishment who will meet quarterly to share practice across the region and ensure that work in taken forward and sustained in their establishments. As I mentioned before full staff meetings will include presentations on children and families and the implementation team aims to have developed a regional strategy with clear performance indicators by the end of March 2017.