There are an estimated 310,000 children affected by parental imprisonment each year. Twenty-five percent of these children are at higher risk of mental ill health, and they often face stigma and isolation as well a range of associated poorer outcomes. Given this, that there is no routine identification of who these children are, and that 7% of children, will experience the imprisonment of their father during their school years, it is essential that education professionals and settings understand and can respond to these children’s needs.
Find out more about how NICCO can assist schools to support these children in our briefing for Schools.
“I was surprised at how many pupils in our school were affected by a family member being in prison.”
- Education professional that has used the NICCO helpline
The following provides links to helpful resources, great practice models, important policy and key research which are specific to helping you support the children and families of offenders.
Resources for school staff
There are a number of resources specifically for supporting school staff to work with this group of children, and to assist the development of whole school practice in this area. Featured below are some examples:
Supporting children and families affected by a family member’s offending – A Practitioner’s Guide – An accessible and comprehensive Guide for multi-agency frontline practitioners including tools, resource lists and practice tips to support effective community-based interventions with offenders’ children and families.
Quality Statements & Toolkit - this comprehensive and easy-to-use resource enables multi-agency professionals to assess and develop their practice with children of offenders. Informed by research, it includes many good practice examples and a work plan template to set action points for your service.
Children affected by the imprisonment of a family member: A handbook for schools developing good practice - A handbook to help individual staff and whole schools to effectively support children affected by parental imprisonment.
eLearning: Children of prisoners - Interactive, multimedia information and guides for professionals, giving information about children of prisoners and ideas for practice approaches.
Supporting children of prisoners within school - Article which explores what educational support can be put in place for children of prisoners at school, and what role SENCOs can play.
Resources for children
Age-appropriate resources designed for children and young people can help them to explore the situation and challenges they may be facing. Professionals can use the below examples with children and young people, or resources can be passed on directly to children if appropriate.
Child’s Journey Worksheets- This range of worksheets from Young Southampton, work well in 1:1 sessions with young children regarding emotions, visiting prison, home life and school.
My Special Book- Booklet for young children to document their visit to their parent in prison, and write down how they felt, what they talked about, what they saw and so on.
Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration - A toolkit produced by Sesame Street with multimedia resources for children, family members and professionals. Includes a guide for caregivers and videos for children (with clips from Sesame Street) exploring issues and feelings around having a parent in prison.
Resources and services for parents, carers and family members
School professionals may be in a position to assist the whole family, through signposting to other organisations or providing helpful and practical information.
Ormiston have produced leaflets for parents and carers on being a parent in prison, being a carer to children of imprisoned parents, visiting prison and what to tell the children.
The Outsiders series from APF includes quotes from families and prisoners and focus on Preparing for release, Sent to prison, Living with separation, Telling the children.
National Offenders’ Families Helpline - Free and confidential information service providing basic advice, emotional support, and signposting to local services. Their website includes simple information sheets to print for offenders' families on all issues relating to a loved one's involvement with the criminal justice system.
Strategic or policy documents
The below examples are useful in considering how your school or education setting might want to respond to these families and their needs. Some local authorities have developed guidelines or protocols to assist schools to work effectively in this area.
Guidelines for Working with Children who have a 'Family' Member in Prison (Oxfordshire) - Provides guidance on how schools in Oxfordshire should support children with a family member in prison.
Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board - Policy for the Education of Children with a Parent or Close Relative in Prison or at Risk of a Custodial Sentence - Policy which can act as a contract for consideration of offenders’ children.
Research and articles
Below are examples of research that specifically looks at how children are affected by parental offending at school, and how schools can best respond to this.
The Role of Schools in Supporting Families Affected by Imprisonment - A piece of research by a former teacher, that looks at how schools can actively support children and gives accounts of best practice from Australia and the USA.
COPING in Schools. Children of Prisoners, Interventions and Mitigations to Strengthen Mental Health - A briefing giving an overview of the international COPING research project, highlighting recommendations relevant to UK schools' involvement with children of prisoners.
Prisoners' childhood and family backgrounds: Results from the Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR) longitudinal cohort study of prisoners- Large scale research with interesting reflection on prisoners’ truancy during schools amongst other things.
‘A Hidden Group of Children’: Support in Schools for Children who Experience Parental Imprisonment- A piece of research which considers that this is a group of forgotten children in terms of school support.
Practice and case studies
Existing practice demonstrates the potential to develop innovative practice and multi-agency working by schools. Below is an example of this:
Practice Model: Families Outside's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) sessions for school staff – This practice model demonstrates how Families Outside raise awareness about the needs of students with a parent in prison and how schools can provide support, by providing twilight sessions in prisons for school staff across Scotland.
Training
Hidden Sentence Training - This has been developed by Action for Prisoners’ Families for multi-agency professionals, and gives an overview of issues which prisoners’ families routinely face. See a list of all training featured on NICCO, or find training in your local area by using NICCO’s search by region function on the home page.
