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Join us in Wolverhampton to raise awareness and develop a multi-agency approach in supporting children and families affected by parental offending. #childrenofoffenders
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Supporting Children and Families Affected by Parental Offending Wolverhampton Thursday, 21st January, 2016 @barnardos_ihop
@barnardos_ihop #childrenofoffenders Alan Coe, ChairWelcome
Background to today’s event • Initial engagement with i-HOP to understand the impact of parental offending on children and young people. • i-HOP, funded by the DfE, offered opportunity to support with: • Raising awareness amongst strategic leads regarding impact of parental offending on children and young people. • Understanding the local picture regarding children & families of offenders. • Developing multi-agency approach to ensuring effective support for children of offenders.
Aim of today’s event • To raise awareness about children affected by parental offending in Somerset. • To raise awareness about the impact of parental offending. • To inform the development of a Wolverhampton-wide approach to supporting children affected by parental offending.
Invisible Children Supporting children affected by parental offending Hugh Sherriffe Director, Barnardo’s Midlands and South West
Barnardo’s Philosophy and Purpose • The lives of all children and young people should be free from poverty, abuse and discrimination • To help the most vulnerable children and young people transform their lives and fulfil their potential
Projects and services across the UK both within prison and the community Work in NI prisons stretching back over 20 years Engagement with partners in both Children’s Services and Criminal Justice Agencies to develop a common vision and approach Working with children of offending parents
Direct work to support individual children and families or parents in prison Working with children and families through Visitor Centres, in Visits Hall and Family Days Development of Community based Support teams Campaigning to raise the profile of these children Creating the i-HOP knowledge hub What we do
Introducing i-HOPwww.i-hop.org.uk • National one-stop information and advice service for professionals working with children and families of offenders providing: • Web-based knowledge hub • Rolling programme of awareness raising workshops • Direct engagement with LAs to develop strategic responses. • Partnership between Barnardo’s and POPS • Funded by the Department for Education
Children of prisoners at risk of poorer outcomes across every indicator Failed to be recognised as high risk and vulnerable group An invisible group with no shared, robust information on: Who they are Where they are Who is looking after them Little awareness of their needs No systematic support Why is this important?
More children are affected by parental imprisonment than are in care Children with a parent in prison are not systematically recorded Not recognised by Local Safeguarding Children Boards Children slip through the net if they’re not considered ‘children in need’ The invisible 200,000
Financial hardship (estimated monthly cost to family £175) Children of prisoners often have negative school experience involving truancy, bullying and stigma Disproportionately represented in the care population (only 5% of children whose mother is imprisoned remain in family home) Managing emotions, feelings of loss/grief/anger Twice as likely to experience mental health problems 3x more likely to be involved in delinquent activity The impact on children
Reducing re-offending • Maintaining family ties reduces the likelihood of reoffending by 39% “An offender’s family are the most effective resettlement agency.” HM Criminal Justice Joint Inspection on Resettlement by Prison, Probation & Ofsted Inspectorates,2014
Conclusion • Supporting children and families of offenders goes hand in hand with reducing re-offending • It also helps tackle intergenerational offending and disadvantage • Key to this is effective partnership working
A parent’s perspective: the impact of parental offending @barnardos_ihop #childrenofoffenders
BRINSFORD YOI Prison perspectives - On developing multi-agency working to support offenders and their families SALLYANN PLOUGHMAN PROGRAMME MANAGER
From concept to partnerships The original concept of the Brinsford Pilot Parenting Project, ‘Father Figures’ came from Luke Serjeant, DDC for the West Midlands. He felt that the needs of the Young Offenders/Fathers and their families were not being met. Luke noticed that in the West Midlands there were a significant number of ‘High Crime Demand Families’ in the area. It was considered that to make any real change for these families a network of agencies would be required, working in partnership to support Offenders and their families ‘through the gate’ in a bid to reduce re-offending and offer support to enable the Young Men to lead fulfilling and prosperous lives in their communities.
WORKING TOGETHER • Luke asked Bridie Oaks-Richards (Stafford) to undertake an alliance piece of work, she invited the Police, Local Government and Fire Services, together with the 3rd Sector and voluntary organisations to sit around the table. Bridie knew that she had to have all agencies involved in order to make things work. • The project was evolving when it was passed onto Sharon Gormley (Operations Manager West Midlands Public Sector Prisons)
Brinsford Pilot Parenting Project – ‘Father Figures’ • Luke’s original concept developed into something tangible, when NOMS declared that they had chosen Brinsford for its location in the Midlands and ‘Troubled Families Agenda Hot-Spot’ to be the venue for a pioneering parenting project. • NOMS, wanted Young Fathers to be involved in the parenting programme undertaking intensive 1:1 sessions, have a group programme that would bring the Young Fathers together and simultaneously their partners, ex-partners and families be supported out in the community. • Depending on the length of their sentence support would also be offered to the Young Father upon release out into the community.
SHARING OF INFORMATION • As part of Agencies coming together in a working partnership, it was imperative to get a working agreement of how information was to be shared between agencies. • ‘One Staffordshire Information Sharing Protocol’ was formed with agencies, local authorities and services, signing up. • Known as ‘signatories’ agencies signed up to the agreement to share information in a legal, appropriate and professional manner. • One Staffordshire Information Sharing Protocol Version 4.3 October 2015
Making a start…….. • Right from the start of the programme, partnerships were formed between the Prison Service, Local Authority and Safe Ground (Charity) • Further partnerships were formed with, local Government, Voluntary and 3rd Sector services including the Probation Service, CRC (Community Rehabilitation Company), Enable, Trailblazers, Princes Trust, Youth Offending Teams, Housing Associations (Bromford Housing), Relate, ‘Giveabook’,‘New Life’ and National Prison Radio. To meet the specific needs of the Young Fathers and their respective partners, ex-partners and families
Forging Partnerships • As with most partnerships they start off with a need, a need for specific information, skills or experience • Partnerships were formed quickly at Brinsford with the OMU (Offender Management Unit), Probation, and later Resettlement when CRC were established at Brinsford, by the Programme Manager • Agencies who offered specific support were sought, Enable – offer support to Young Men with Mental Health issues to find work; Trailblazers provide professional mentors to support Young Offenders and the Princes Trust, who run a diverse range of programmes which promote self-confidence and belief • The Young Fathers have individual needs and as such we continually look to increase our partnerships to meet those needs.
Strategically – who benefits? The Establishment The Individual The Community
Who benefits? • Young Fathers – They obtain the support they require to meet their individual needs, they are empowered to be self-reliant and more resilient • Partners and Families – They are given the recognition of the potential difficulties of being involved with an Offender and benefit from receiving specific support • Children of Offenders – Whether their parents are together or apart they will benefit from seeing the positive changes going on around them with both of their parents • Brinsford – There has been recognition of the changes being made by offenders who are participating in the programme with a noticeable improvement in behaviour and an increased tendency to partake in Education and Vocational courses • Communities – The Parenting Programme is a Community based Approach Programme which works in conjunction with the ‘Troubled Family Agenda’, communities benefit from a reduction in ASB, reduction on services, and participants becoming involved within their communities in a positive way
Partnerships… The Individual Partnership Working Equals Better Results For All The Establishment The Community
Thank you for your interest, involvement and support Sallyann Ploughman
Embedding a family focused approach into restorative justice Clifford Grimason, HMP Hewell
Supporting Children and Families in Wolverhampton Sorcha Hagger
Prison Work • Two CAPI Project Workers based in HMP Hewell and HMP Oakwood • Emotional and practical support for parents in prison via one to one sessions and/ or group work • Assistance to maintain contact and strengthen relationships • Point of contact offering advice and support for professionals in the prison
Community Work • Emotional and practical support for parent/ carer in the community affected by the imprisonment • Therapeutic one to one support sessions in school for children aged 5 – 15 years affected by imprisonment specifically for children who reside in the Black Country Area- Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Sandwell • Support available for families residing in neighbouring authorities • Signposting to relevant services
Professionals • Central point of contact for professionals • Referral process • Signposting, support and guidance • Resources
Outcomes • Enhance parent/ carer/ adult- child relationships • Increased resilience • Ability to express feelings • Reduced victimisation/ discrimination • Reduction in impact of trauma • Social Skills gained and improved • Parents/ carers active in working with service/ other services • Reduction in offending • Improved knowledge of parenting/ caring • More positive involvement of fathers
Young people’s perspective: the impact of parental offending @barnardos_ihop #childrenofoffenders
Developing an integrated local approach to working with children and families of offenders Polly Wright www.i-hop.org.uk
Why an integrated approach? • Whole-family approach that creates links between prison estate and community-based services. • An approach that responds to each stage of an offenders journey: • Holistic model that recognises the impact on all aspects of a child’s life.
Youth service provision GPs Peer group YOTs Peer Group Trust School nurses Prisons Routine Self esteem Troubled Families Physical wellbeing CAMHS Behaviour Self identity LSCBs Emotional wellbeing Relationships Schools Police Financial wellbeing Educational attainment Attachment Family Support Probation Early Help
Challenges to an integrated approach? • Lack of identification systems in place. • Stigma. • Awareness about needs of offenders’ children and their families. • Knowledge about available support. • Information sharing. • Available resources. • Multi-agency working. • Lack of policy recognition and/or guidance. “I’m sorry to say this, but as a practitioner and as a strategic manager I knew little of the impact of this, Actually just hearing the facts about the number of children affected … I was completely astonished and I was also quite embarrassed.’
Examples of practice & strategic responses • Strategic/policy recognition • Integration into LSCB business plans. • Recognition in Safeguarding Threshold documents • Recognition in Joint Strategic Needs Assessment documents. • Adaptation of reporting/recording templates • Children Centre registration forms • AIRS assessment paperwork • Family support assessments • Multi-agency steering groups with associated action plans • Commissioned strategic support/co-ordination
Young People’s Charters • Staff awareness raising/training • i-HOP workshops • Hidden Sentence training • Integration into existing training e.g. Introduction to Safeguarding • Champions Schemes • Accessible information about support for children and families • Local Authority leaflets • Resource packs
Quality Statements and Outcome Monitoring Toolkit • 8 Quality Statements informed by research, evidence, practitioners and young people. • Self assessment toolkit. • Framework for developing outcome focused, SMART action plans for supporting children affected by parental offending. • Published February, 2016.
Next steps in Wolverhampton Need to consider: • 4 points of intervention: • Multi-agency approach, that considers: • Awareness raising/learning and development. • Identification and information sharing. • Targeted support and practice for children and families affected. ARREST PRISON RELEASE SENTENCING
