This report includes a call for action from Parliament to select a Minister to take account for children who have a parent in prison.
It firstly outlines key research into the benefits and challenges of children visiting loved ones in prisons and their experiences of this including travel, prison rules, finances and environment. The report also contains information obtained by Barnardo's through a freedom of information request: that 506,694 visits were made by children to public prisons in 2013. The document then goes on to highlight the importance of improving the experiences of children who have a parent in prison and to call on the Secretary of State for Justice to appoint a Minister to take responsibility for developing a national plan to protect the children of prisoners, with a focus on improving prison visits and the identification of such children at the point of sentencing. The end of the report includes a note about Barnardo's work with children affected by parental imprisonment, capacity to train professionals and the i-HOP information hub on offenders' families.
See Just Visiting below:
