Practice Model from Wolverhampton CAPI Steering Group.
In January 2016 Barnardo’s i-hop service delivered a Children Affected by Parental Imprisonment (CAPI) conference in Wolverhampton inviting delegates from a wide range of services from Wolverhampton and the surrounding West Midlands area. Part of this event were a series of consultation workshops determining what support, if any, was given to children affected by parental imprisonment by professionals and also what the professionals needed in order to support this vulnerable group of children. A report was written by the Barnardo’s CAPI Strategic Engagement Manager detailing the results of the consultation, which was submitted to the Wolverhampton Health and Well-being Board.
A steering group was formed with representatives from 2 prisons, Probation, Police, Health, Children’s Services, Early Help, Youth Justice, Education, Wolverhampton Homes, Recovery Near You, Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children’s board, Wolverhampton Safer Communities Partnership and Barnardo’s. This group continues to meet on a quarterly basis with individuals from other services being identified and invited in as we progress. The main remit of the steering group is to determine how support for CAPI can be seamlessly embedded into current practice with some specialist training and production of certain resources. Small task and finish groups meet in between the steering group meetings to ensure that work is kept on track. So far the steering group have co-produced an information leaflet for families in the area and for offenders who may resettle to Wolverhampton. They have also corporately purchased an “Awareness of the needs of CAPI” workshop for Champions that have been identified in each of the services. The Champions will form specific points of contact for their staff teams to share resources and cascade training, as well as in some cases being a named person for families to speak to. The first Champions meeting is planned for November 2017 and it is hoped that this group will continue to meet on a termly basis long after the steering group has ended. Champions will receive updates from the Barnardo’s CAPI SEM as well as being offered further training opportunities such as ‘Hidden Sentence’ training delivered by Barnardo’s at one of the prisons represented on the steering group. The following quotes are from members of the steering group: “Raising awareness of the long term impact of parental imprisonment is vitally important and thereafter finding suitable, individualised support for children remains the challenge. The CAPI initiative will contribute positively, I am sure.” Quality Standards in Education Officer for the LA “I believe in sharing good practice / information, but collectively we raise the awareness of CAPI to our teams. Within housing we are in contact with tenants on a daily basis and hold quite a lot of information. So to sit within the Steering group it enables us to recognise any gaps in our services and how best to address it. This in turn can only help/support our tenants. The “Hidden Sentence” training gave an accurate insight to the impact of families affected by parents’ imprisonment Not just the beginning in terms of trial, sentence and visits but the other end in terms of coming out/home, the new dynamics within the family.” Manager for Housing Association. Practice Model from Wolverhampton CAPI Steering Group In January 2016 Barnardo’s i-hop service delivered a Children Affected by Parental Imprisonment (CAPI) conference in Wolverhampton inviting delegates from a wide range of services from Wolverhampton and the surrounding West Midlands area.
Part of this event were a series of consultation workshops determining what support, if any, was given to children affected by parental imprisonment by professionals and also what the professionals needed in order to support this vulnerable group of children. A report was written by the Barnardo’s CAPI Strategic Engagement Manager detailing the results of the consultation, which was submitted to the Wolverhampton Health and Well-being Board. A steering group was formed with representatives from 2 prisons, Probation, Police, Health, Children’s Services, Early Help, Youth Justice, Education, Wolverhampton Homes, Recovery Near You, Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children’s board, Wolverhampton Safer Communities Partnership and Barnardo’s. This group continues to meet on a quarterly basis with individuals from other services being identified and invited in as we progress. The main remit of the steering group is to determine how support for CAPI can be seamlessly embedded into current practice with some specialist training and production of certain resources. Small task and finish groups meet in between the steering group meetings to ensure that work is kept on track. So far the steering group have co-produced an information leaflet for families in the area and for offenders who may resettle to Wolverhampton. They have also corporately purchased an “Awareness of the needs of CAPI” workshop for Champions that have been identified in each of the services. The Champions will form specific points of contact for their staff teams to share resources and cascade training, as well as in some cases being a named person for families to speak to. The first Champions meeting is planned for November 2017 and it is hoped that this group will continue to meet on a termly basis long after the steering group has ended. Champions will receive updates from the Barnardo’s CAPI SEM as well as being offered further training opportunities such as ‘Hidden Sentence’ training delivered by Barnardo’s at one of the prisons represented on the steering group. The following quotes are from members of the steering group: “Raising awareness of the long term impact of parental imprisonment is vitally important and thereafter finding suitable, individualised support for children remains the challenge. The CAPI initiative will contribute positively, I am sure.” Quality Standards in Education Officer for the LA “I believe in sharing good practice/information, but collectively we raise the awareness of CAPI to our teams. Within housing we are in contact with tenants on a daily basis and hold quite a lot of information. So to sit within the Steering group it enables us to recognise any gaps in our services and how best to address it. This in turn can only help / support our tenants. The “Hidden Sentence” training gave an accurate insight to the impact of families affected by parents’ imprisonment Not just the beginning in terms of trial, sentence and visits but the other end in terms of coming out/home, the new dynamics within the family.” Manager for Housing Association.
