Directory of Research

All research and evidence on NICCO is reviewed using a Quality Assessment Tool (QAT) developed by the University of Huddersfield and Barnardo's.

Research and evidence is assessed in four key areas: Methodological Quality, Child-Centredness, Relevance to Policy and Strategy, and Relevance to Practice with offender's children. This ensures that items on the NICCO website are as useful as possible to academics, practitioners, commissioners and other professionals. For more information about the development of the QAT or to review research in order to list it on NICCO, please see the QAT webpage where you can download the Tool, Guidebook and a short step-by-step 'How To' document. Please contact us to submit quality assessed research on to NICCO.

Click on the icons to see a full list of items which have been awarded a standard icon or icon+ (for items which have scored particularly highly) in each key area:

Child-Centredness

Relevance to Policy

Methodological Quality

Relevance to Practice

37. Women offenders: after the Corston Report
This report looks at the development of policy and practice with regards to women offenders, six years after the Corston Report was first published. The report makes a series of recommendations about the government's review of the female custodial estate, including a proposal for the review to examine support for the development and sustainability of family ties. The report comments on how far a 'whole system approach' has been developed for women offenders, and points out the...
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38. Evaluation of the Integrated Family Support Programme in the North East
This report evaluates NEPACS Integrated Family Support (IFS) Programme that works in prisons and in the community across the North East of England. NEPACS currently has Family Support Workers in four prisons in the North East and two Integrated Family Support Advocates working across 12 North East local authority areas. The evaluation explores the outputs and impact of this work and provides details of the support delivered. It also includes case studies of the families the programme has...

39. 'Picking Up the Pieces': The Rights and Needs of Children and Families Affected by Imprisonment
This report highlights the specific needs of children with imprisoned parents in Ireland, however the affects on children which are highlighted here, are often universal and can therefore be learned from by people from any country. The focus is on the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child and whether children's rights are being upheld. It highlights the limited numbers and scope of organisations who work in this field, as well as the need for a commitment to the cause...
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40. The Voice of a Child
This report draws on interviews with children to document the impact that the imprisonment of their mother has had on their lives: including long term emotional, social, material and psychological damage, with little or no dedicated support. The Howard League were the first to ask children what they thought about having a mother in prison in the 1990's. This revised edition demonstrates the ongoing importance of hearing children's voices. The demographic information about women...
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41. Improving prisoners' family ties, Piloting a shared measurement approach
This research was conducted in light of the fact that charities help facilitate contact and visits to family members inside, who are 39% less likely to re-offend as a result, but measuring the difference charities make can be difficult due to poor recording and lack of available funds for evaluation purposes. Think NPC worked with 6 charities (Action for Prisoners' Families, Kids VIP, pact, POPS, Safe Ground and Storybook Dads) to identify common frameworks of understanding and key...
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42. Evidence-based programmes for children of prisoners
You will need a log in to Wiley Online Library to access the full article. This is a peer-reviewed essay written in reaction to the dramatic increase in numbers of children with a parent in prison in the US and UK throughout the 1990's and research which shows the adverse life opportunities available to children in such circumstances. Evidence is reviewed in relation to key issues including risks for children of prisoners and how parental imprisonment may cause negative outcomes for...
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