This unpublished paper is based on qualitative research conducted as part of an evaluation of HMP Styal's Positive Parenting Programmes.
It seeks to highlight some of the learning points from a previous study such as how mother and child relationships can be maintained via the Positive Parenting course and mediation. The literature review briefly explores the numbers of, specific challenges for, and needs of mothers in prison and subsequently, their children. The basis for the Positive Parenting Programme, including the characteristics of the female offenders involved, is then briefly outlined. The challenges of facilitating direct contact between imprisoned mothers and children is emphasised, predominently related to a lack of resources and questions around the child's best interests. Challenges and benefits of the Positive Parenting course and indirect mediation are then discussed in turn. One benefit of the course was that it was run in prison, thus eliminating any fears of stigma relating to imprisonment from other mothers, subsequentley making the women more enthusiastically engaged than they would have been in the community. One huge benefit of indirect mediation was assisting mothers in writing letters which would ultimatley help build positive relations between them and thier children.
You can read Imprisoned mothers on the University of Huddersfield's open-access online repository below:
