The innovative Re-Unite South London project was set up in 2006 and resulted from a body of research evidence that demonstrated the poor outcomes of female offenders, that two thirds of women leave a child behind when they are imprisoned, that 45% of women reoffend within a year of being released and that there are huge financial costs in imprisoning women.
The service was set up to support mothers and their children at the critical time of release from prison, and was evaluated in 2010. Re-unite is now run in services in Birmingham (Anawin), Gloucestershire (ISISS), South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Humberside (TWP) which all work in partnership with Women's Centres and Greater Manchester (Threshold) which works with a homelessness support charity. Each project works with various housing providers, operates differently and aims to help women obtain and maintain good quality accommodation in which they and their children can resume or seek to restore their family life. This revised evaluation is of Re-Unite services between 2010 and 2012, in comparison to the London service . Key findings are split into South London and elsewhere and include information about client groups and their needs and the impact that Re-Unite has had on service users. Conclusions are drawn from findings around the reasons for which mothers do and do not achieve residency and reconnection with their children and the ways in which various Reunite Projects support women to achieve positive outcomes. There is also a section which confirms the financial benefits investment into housing projects for ex female offenders as well as a note to policy makers to take heed to this evaluation's learnings.
Read Re-Unite's revised evaluation below:
