HMP STAFFORD

FAMILIES AND SIGNIFICANT

OTHERS STRATEGY
2018-2021

April 2018

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Hello,

As Governor of Stafford I am passionate about including families and significant others in

the work we do with our residents. I genuinely believe that maintaining close ties
throughout a sentence is the golden thread that can have an enormous impact on the
chances of our residents changing their lives around and preventing them from reoffending
on release. The hope that a family can give someone serving a sentence and the belief that
they have something to look forward to when they get out is a huge part of building our
rehabilitative culture, and where that exists its vital we help it sustain and flourish. But it’s
also important to involve families and significant others in other processes which effect their
loved ones, such as safer custody, interventions, and offender management, as if we all
work together I am convinced that the positive impact of those things can be magnified
many times, as well as reducing the isolation felt by residents and their loved ones. My
belief in the importance of this team approach is why I enjoy meeting with the family forum
every few weeks, as it gives me a true reflection of their experience and helps keep good
lines of communication open.

Equally as importantly though, I know from my experiences working with those left behind
when someone is sent to prison, just how difficult it is to adjust to life without a loved one.
This is not just emotional impact, although obviously that is massive, but also in terms of
financial, childcare, social aspects and all the other parts of everyday life which are so
dramatically affected. That is why I am absolutely committed to supporting families and
significant others as much as possible, working alongside our partner agencies to find new
and innovative ways to ensure that those still in the community feel supported and part of
their loved ones journey.

Whilst visits are an important part of this, and indeed we are doing a lot of work to refurbish
our visits facilities and improve our processes and the quality of our visits, you will hopefully
see from this strategy that I am committed to embedding working with families and
significant others in the culture of HMP Stafford, as a core part of the work we are doing to
create a truly rehabilitative culture. By doing this, I think we have a far better chance of
delivering on our vision of “returning citizens, not offenders, to our communities”.

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NB: If you would like to follow developments at HMP Stafford, please follow me on Twitter
on @hmpstaffordgov, or our official feed @HMP Stafford. I also welcome contact from any
agencies wishing to work with us, as well as the families and significant others of those in
our care here at HMP Stafford.

Kind Regards,

Ralph Lubkowski
Governor
HMP Stafford
HM Prison & Probation Service | 54 Gaol Road | Stafford | Staffordshire | ST16 3AW
 01785 773002
 ralph.lubkowski@hmps.gsi.gov.uk

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INDEX
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
NUMBER
AIM, VISION AND VALUES 3
1 INTRODUCTION 5
2 LEGAL AND OTHER OBLIGATIONS 7
3 UNDERPINNING PRINCIPLES 8
4 COMMENCEMENT OF THIS STRATEGY 9
5 ACTION PLAN 10
6 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 10
7 TRAINING AND SUPPORT 11
8 COMMUNICATION 12
9 MONITORING AND EVALUATION 12
10 CARE LEAVERS 13
 CARE LEAVERS RESOURCES 17
11 FAMILIES AND SIGNIFICANT OTHERS USEFUL 18
REFERENCES
12 ANNEX ‘A’ LOCAL ACTION PLAN 19

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 AIM, VISION AND VALUES
Statement of purpose
Our core purpose is to improve public safety by reducing the risk of reoffending
through the rehabilitation of our residents while in custody. Developing and
maintaining family relationships will be factors in future desistance from crime. We
aim to encourage positive contact, where appropriate between children and their
parents supporting development of their relationships. Maintaining family
relationships can have a positive impact on reoffending rates and intergenerational
offending. This can potentially improve school attendance for children affected by
parental imprisonment.

Our vision:
To deliver best practice in working with our residents, their children and families to
reduce the risk of both reoffending and intergenerational offending.
To be valued and respected for the services we provide.

Our values:
Recognising that a good quality service for our residents, their children and families
requires a whole prison approach.
Recognising visits as a family intervention
Upholding a child’s rights to maintain contact with parents where it is considered safe
to do so (subject to Public Protection considerations).
Ensuring that we have the required skills and competences to work with families
Showing an innovative approach to our work in developing family services
Upholding our residents’ human rights and working with them as individuals to
become law-abiding citizens
Demonstrating a commitment to fairness, equality and respect for each other and
those we are in contact with.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

HMP Stafford is committed to working with our residents and their families. There
have been some very positive developments in this area in recent years and
provision for children and families of prisoners is already well established across the
prison estate from a range of sources and providers. However, there is still much
work to be done. The success of this work is, therefore, underpinned by very
effective partnerships and stakeholder engagement.
The Family Strategy has the potential to:
• Enhance desistence and create positive hope for our resident’s futures
• Deliver and maintain the 19 recommendations from the Lord Farmer report, ‘The
Importance of Strengthening Prisoners’ Family Ties to Prevent Re-offending and
reduce Intergenerational Crime’, while ensuring that we deliver and exceed the local
minimum ‘family offer’ to which the report refers.
• Fulfil statutory obligations to safeguard and to promote the welfare of children
• Reduce the incidence of inter-generational offending.
• Contribute to Healthy Prisons test as defined by HMIP Expectations
The Strategy recognises that families have a vital role to play in helping our residents
achieve successful rehabilitation and reduce re-offending. There is a growing body of
research evidence that good quality contact has a beneficial impact both during and
after a period in custody for our residents, their children and families.
Research shows that offenders without family support on release are between 2 and
6 times more likely to re-offend in the first year of their release from custody.
Additional research (Farrington) shows that male children of offenders are 63% more
likely to offend themselves and that rises to 93% when both parents are offenders.
The Strategy is built on recommendations from Lord Farmers report and the HMPPS
guidance document ‘Delivering Effective Family Practice’ (December 2017).

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 This document sets out our Strategy, which indicates what it is that the families
of our residents can expect from HMP Stafford when they engage with us and how
they can help support our residents (their family member) while they remain in
custody with us.
It identifies the key problems facing families of our residents and a model for
developing a sustainable family strategy. The accompanying action plan at Chapter
12 details the measures aimed at addressing these issues. Chapter 9 provides
information on the roles and responsibilities for monitoring and evaluating the
plan/strategy.

The requirement for a distinct strategy:

1.2 HMP Stafford recognises the important contribution that families make in
supporting all our residents to achieve effective rehabilitation and reduce re-
offending. The strategy recognises the importance of families in the resettlement of
our residents back into their communities on release from custody.
It is important to note that HMP Stafford supports a population, consisting of medium
to high risk offenders, convicted of index offences of a sexual nature.
Of our 751 Operational capacity, 747 are convicted of index offences of a sexual
nature and therefore on register, with a further 4 who are not required to register.
571 are considered a risk to children and 158 are domestic violence perpetrators,
therefore any family intervention needs to be appropriate and agreed with Offender
Supervisors and Offender Managers.
Another factor requiring consideration is the age of our population. Currently over
half are over the age of 50, with teenage or adult families.

Strategic Aims
1.3 The Family Strategy has the potential to contribute to:
• Reducing re-offending
• Enhancing desistence
• Maintain where possible, the recommendations from the Lord Farmer report
(August 2017)
• Fulfil statutory obligations to safeguard and to promote the welfare of children

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• Reduce the incidence of inter-generational offending
• Contribute to Healthy Prisons test as defined by HMIP Expectations
Benefits of the Strategy
1.4 The benefits of the strategy are:
• Better engagement of our residents during their sentence through better
understanding from staff of the critical role played by families and significant
others.
• Better pre-release planning and support packages set up at the critical transition
point of release back to the community, (particularly for our higher risk
population).
• More likely to secure stable housing if relationships with the family have been
maintained and the resident has a home to return to. (Most residents at HMP
Stafford are released to Approved Premises, with “move on” plans to be agreed
with Offender Manager)
• Family ties, where appropriate are strengthened and critical relationships can be
maintained which reduces family breakdown.
• Potential for reduction in intergenerational offending
• A more integrated approach to supporting prisoners, children and families may be
achieved as community based children’s services are more fully engaged
• It will contribute towards a more consistent approach to supporting offenders’
families across the region and country, working in partnership with community
based services

Related strategies/policies
1.5 This Strategy is supported by a number of other strategies/policies including:
• Foreign National Prisoners Strategy
• Child Protection Policy
• Visitors’ Complaints Procedure
• Safer Custody Strategy
• Expectations for Child Centred Visits
• Safeguarding of Children Policy
• I-HOP Safeguard Briefing V4
• Expectations of Family/Child Centred Visits
• HMIP Expectations
• Prison Safety and Reform 2016
• PSP Strategic Priorities

Desistence
1.6 We know that supporting offender’s family relationships can help to improve
resettlement.

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NOMS Evidence & Segmentation sets out NOMS’ position on evidence, how it
should be used and summarises what is currently known about the effectiveness of
different approaches. With regards to families it states:
 A lack of supportive and pro-social family / marital relationships is identified as
one of the nine factors linked to reoffending and desistance (2013)
 There is promising but not yet conclusive evidence for relationship coaching
interventions and encouraging and enabling family visits to prisoners, and more
evidence is needed in these areas. At HMP Stafford, we are working closely with
OMU and Programmes to identify appropriate support for our current population
of “high risk” offenders.
 We will use this initiative to engage with our High Risk Offenders and IPP
population.

CHAPTER 2 LEGAL AND OTHER RELATED STRATEGIES/POLICY

2.1 The strategy is compliant with the following strategies and policies
 Local Security Strategy
 Searching of the Person
 Assisted Prison Visitor Scheme
 Public Protection Manual
 Providing Visits & Services to Visitors
 Foreign National Prisoners Strategy
 Child Protection Policy
 Visitors’ Complaints Procedure
 Safer Custody Strategy

Human Rights and Equality

2.2 Under the Human Rights Act 1998 it is unlawful to act in a way which is
incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. In order to ensure
that the Prison Service meets this obligation, it is necessary to assess every policy
from a human rights perspective.
2.3 We have a duty of care under the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that all of our
residents and their families with and without protected characteristic s are treated
with dignity and respect. In the context of family and significant others, Equality is
about recognising that all families are different, of various make-up, culture and faith.
This must therefore be reflected in the services that we provide. We will identify the
diversity reflected by our residents and families, ensuring that our staff are culturally
aware and that we provide services that reflect their unique and diverse needs.
2.4 HMP Stafford will screen this Strategy to ensure that it does not have the
potential to engage or interfere with any of the Articles, as its purpose is to take
action to enhance the right to a family life.

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CHAPTER 3 UNDERPINNING PRINCIPLES
3.1 The main driver for the Family Strategy is the Children and Families pathway,
which forms an integral part of the establishment Reducing Reoffending Strategy.
HMP Stafford recognises the important contribution that families make in supporting
our residents during imprisonment, to achieve effective rehabilitation and reduce re-
offending. Research has shown for example that residents without family support on
release are much more likely to re-offend in the first year.
3.2 There is evidence to suggest a link between the maintenance of supportive
family ties and reduction in re-offending. Many of our residents’ relationships are
broken and fragmented, as a result of their offending. This leaves their families
unsupported and increases the likelihood of inter-generational offending, mental
health and financial problems.
3.3 Children and families can play a significant role in supporting our residents to
make and sustain changes, which can reduce offending. In order to assist with this,
there is a need to support family relationships by providing life skills and relationship
skills training during the sentence.
3.4 The role of HMP Stafford’s multi-faith Chaplaincy and faith organisations is
important in providing support for our residents and their families in their
communities.
3.5 HMP Stafford will:
• Treat families with respect, decency and dignity
• Provide safe and secure visiting facilities in a family friendly, neutral environment
• Identify and promote opportunities for families to build and sustain meaningful
relationships and be involved in key aspects of the sentence, where appropriate
• Work in partnership with other organisations in the public, private and voluntary
sector that deliver services to families to support the co-ordination and integration of
these services to meet the needs of prisoners and their families, where appropriate.
• Ensure that we comply with all relevant legislative and statutory requirements and
• That there are robust Child Protection and Safeguarding policies in place
• Develop and publish minimum standards of service delivery for families when they
engage with HMP Stafford and audit performance against these standards

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CHAPTER 4 COMMENCEMENT OF THIS STRATEGY
4.1 The Strategy is effective from 1st April 2018. Some examples of work that has
already been initiated or is planned to take place includes;
• Providing a useful single point of contact for families, helping families and
residents maintain relationships during a custodial period and providing
information or perhaps referral to another agency, if appropriate. Families can
discuss issues with the Family Engagement Worker (FEW) in complete
confidence.
• We will introduce a communication gateway to improve our communication with
our visitors. This will be done via the introduction of an e-mail contact point for
visitors, so they can submit requests for information and queries in relation to
visits. We shall also open up a Domestic Visits Hot-line (answer-phone), with
messages collected three times daily.
• HMP Stafford recognises that it is important that children have a chance to spend
time with the parent who is in custody and that is why the FEW arranges Child
Centred Visits or Family Days in consultation with HMP Stafford’s Children and
Families Champion. These events allow child and parents to play, have fun and
develop a more meaningful relationship together. We support a minimum of six
themed Family Days per year, providing the opportunity for our residents and
their families to spend time together. These have always consisted of half day
sessions, but we will undertake to enhance our offer to provide full days together
going forward. We will undertake to explore additional visits sessions, to enhance
our current offer (2 x mid-week sessions, 2 x week-end sessions), subject to
appropriate resources being allocated (re-profile).
• The visits hall is to be completely refurbished to provide a friendly and
comfortable area for all family members. We will invest in separate soft play
area for children. The children’s play area will be brightly coloured with a range of
craft activities, toys and books to encourage engagement with father and child.
The area will be redecorated, with new furniture and flooring. We will explore a
sensory area to assist children who may have recognised disabilities, so they can
share and experience sensory stimulation with their parent.
• We will introduce murals and cartoon characters to sign-post children from the
Visits Centre through the internal search area and into the Visits Hall, softening
the child’s experience of HMP Stafford and enhancing their visit experience
accordingly.
• We will undertake a feasibility study to enhance the Visits Centre layout
• We will undertake a feasibility study to provide an enhanced changing area
adjacent to the Visits Hall, giving greater scope for adult/child changing area and
breast feeding mothers in privacy.
• Regular Family Forums with visitors by the Governor every six weeks, to improve
lines of communication and receive direct feedback from visitors.
• We will link our Families Strategy with all Functions within HMP Stafford e.g.
Safer Custody seeking family input into ACCT reviews, Residential staff
discussing family ties during OMiC Keyworker interviews and OMU Offender
Supervisors linking in with families around sentence planning and pre-release

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 (resettlement issues). All functions will have a part to play in this strategy and its
ultimate success.
Further examples of current work and planned initiatives can be found in Annex A -
Action Plan on page 19 of this document.

CHAPTER 5 ACTION PLAN (See Annex A)

5.1 Following consideration of any issues raised by prison staff, our residents and
their families (including children and young people) and incorporating
recommendations from the Lord Farmer Report (August 2017) and HMPPS
‘Delivering Effective Family Practice’ (December 2017), a local action plan will be
developed to track the recommendations already implemented, or to be
implemented. This action plan will be monitored alongside the establishment
families pathway action plan (RRAP), at a designated bi-monthly Family Strategy
Group meeting, which will also be established going forward.
5.2 It will further identify who needs to do what, to achieve the desired outcome and
will also provide a baseline against which progress can be monitored.
5.3 Work has been progressing on improving services/facilities for our residents’
families as this Strategy has been developed and as a consequence, many
measures have already been put in place by our partner organisation within the
Visits Centre (Barnardo’s).

CHAPTER 6 ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

CHAMPIONS
Purpose
5.1 It has long been known that residents who maintain a bond with their families,
are at a lower risk of re-offending post release.
The key role of the Children and Families Champion, is to support the Head of
Reducing Reoffending and Head of OMU around the improvement of healthy
relationships between residents and their families. The role should operate across
both operational and strategic levels.
Objectives

5.2 The objectives of the Children and Families Champion are:

 To work with internal and external agencies in order to create an atmosphere

of ‘Family Friendly Visits’ and therefore reduce any barriers to visiting.

 To work closely with internal and external agencies to provide advice and
support to families.

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  To work with providers of family services to develop and implement
appropriate interventions designed to promote a healthy relationship between
prisoners and their families.

 To promote positive family contact e.g. via father-child visits, age related
activities etc.

 To ensure that if concerns are raised, or where a Child Protection plan is in

place, about a child’s welfare and safety, appropriate action is taken to
support vulnerable children and young people in conjunction with relevant
agencies in the family’s home area.

 To implement and maintain the Visits Safeguarding Policy ensuring it is

publicised in relevant areas.

 To liaise closely with the CRC, providers of family services, offender

supervisors/caseworkers and a range of Voluntary Community Sector
organisations based at the prison to enable families to contribute towards
successful rehabilitation and resettlement.

 To monitor and report on the effectiveness of the Children and Families

provision to the Head of Reducing Reoffending / Head of OMU.

 To assist family provider services in implementing and delivering family staff

awareness training/staff briefings.

 To liaise with other West Midlands establishments to share good practice,

resources and approaches.

 To raise awareness about offenders’ children and families across the prison
establishment by supporting awareness raising sessions at full-staff meetings
and ensuring that the Children and Families action plan is communicated with
the wider prison staff team effectively, through the Family Strategy Group
Meeting.

CHAPTER 7 TRAINING & SUPPORT

7.1 It is essential that full training of all staff working with children and families is
carried out. It is likely that training will include:
• Family Support Services (through staff briefings)
• Child Protection and Safeguarding
• Diversity
• Complaints Procedure

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• Awareness of services, resources and information to support our residents and
their families.
7.2 It is also essential that awareness of the Family Strategy and of the special
needs of families and children is included in staff/partnership training including new
staff, so that staff are introduced to the concept of family involvement, where
possible. Training should include input from the agencies working with the families of
our residents.

CHAPTER 8 COMMUNICATION
8.1 It is important that the strategy is clearly and effectively communicated and that
staff are kept up-to-date with implementation of any sections of the action plan, that
are not yet fully developed. The Children and Family Champion will play a key role in
communicating how best to build meaningful relationships between our residents
and their families.
8.2 We will ensure that our local reducing reoffending policy refers to the content of
this strategy. The reducing reoffending document will clearly set out the range of
services that are available to families and how to access them.
8.3 The names and contact details for the establishment’s Children and Families
Champion and other relevant staff will be provided to staff, residents and visitors.
8.4 List of main strategic partnership forums that the establishment is engaged with:
 Barnardo’s
 CRC (Currently scoping with NPS/Commissioners to explore Resettlement
funding)
 Lincolnshire Action Trust (LAT)
 Milton Keynes College (MKC)
 The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire

CHAPTER 9 MONITORING & EVALUATION PROCEDURES

9.1 In order that the strategy continues to be developed the following monitoring
procedures are proposed:
9.2 Monitoring of the implementation of the strategy on a day to day basis within
HMP Stafford will rest with the Children and Families Champion, with
Visits/Resettlement monitoring and reporting on Visitors’ Centre activities. Overall
responsibility and accountability for the strategy will sit with the Head of Reducing
Reoffending/Head of OMU
Monitoring will include:
• Conduct an annual Data collection exercise utilising surveys of residents, their
families and staff with our partner organisation Barnardo’s
• Scrutinising numbers visiting

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• Identify residents who do not receive regular visits via P-Nomis, cross reference
with those residents who do not regularly access the PIN-Phone system to
quantify numbers and consider an engagement strategy, in line with social
isolators
• Recording numbers of requests for help/advice
• Obtaining feedback from residents and their families
• Numbers of complaints relating to visits
9.3 Establish a regular bi-monthly meeting between the Children and Families
Champion and our Visits Centre provider (Barnardo’s) to discuss and record
progress.
9.4 Evaluation of the success of the strategy will be conducted through any
Visitors’/Prisoners’ Surveys that take place.

CHAPTER 10 CARE LEAVERS

10.1 Who are care leavers?
A care leaver is someone who has spent time in the care of the local authority. A
care leaver’s eligibility for services from the local authority depends on factors such
as the duration and timing of that care and guidance addresses work with the
following groups;
 Former Relevant Children (under 21) – young adults who have spent at
least 13 weeks in the care of a local authority between their 14 th and 18th
birthdays
 Persons Qualifying for Advice and Assistance – young adults (under 21)
who were subject to a special guardianship order or at any time after reaching
the age of 16, but while still a child were, but are no longer, looked after,
accompanied or fostered
 Former Relevant Children Entitled to Extended Support (up to 25) –
former relevant children who have notified their local authority that they intend
to pursue further education or training
For the purposes of HMP Stafford, we will only be dealing with a very small number
of residents who fit the criterion of Former Relevant Children Entitled to Extended
Support and who are under the age of 25 years at discharge from custody.
10.2 What leaving care services should be provided for care leavers?
Under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, the last local authority to look after the
young person in care, known as the ‘Responsible Authority’ has a statutory
obligation to continue to support a Former Relevant Child in the following ways;
 Keeping in touch
 Providing a Personal Advisor

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  Maintaining and reviewing a “Pathway Plan” for the individual’s personal
development and wellbeing, career planning, ability to live independently and
accommodation needs
 Providing assistance with costs associated with education and training
 Payment of a bursary to those in higher education
 Providing financial assistance if the individual’s welfare requires it
These obligations continue for those sentenced to custody and remain in place until
the individuals 21st birthday. For those in higher education, for those who elect to
return to higher education after their 21st birthday, or for those with special education
needs, support may be offered beyond that age. This may therefore include a small
number of our residents.
Working with Care Leavers
The following steps can help staff, while working alongside leaving care services to
assist care leavers to become better equipped to make choices that will help them
desist from offending and make an effective transition to adulthood.
10.3 Identifying Care Leavers
Staff should identify potential care leaver status as part of an initial assessment. This
can be relatively straightforward where the resident has been subject to the youth
justice system. In these cases, you can obtain and read the most recent assessment
(Asset) for details of care history. In other cases, residents may tell you that they
have, or have had, a personal advisor and/or a pathway plan.
Some residents may be uncertain about the details of their care history or may have
had negative experiences. Others may not recognise, or have a different
interpretation of terms such as “being in care”, “personal advisor” etc. It is therefore
very important that identification of those who may be eligible for leaving care
services is done in a sensitive manner. You are not expected to be an expert on
eligibility, given that child law can be complex. If you believe that a resident may be
entitled to leaving care services you should discuss this with them and then, where
appropriate, check this with the local authority.
Once you have established that the resident is a care leaver, record this status.
nDelius (NPS Database) now contains a field under personal circumstances that can
be used for this purpose and a similar process will be introduced in custody (HMPPS
P-Nomis).
10.4 Establishing the residents goals
You should discuss the residents goals in life and how support from leaving care
services could help, in addition to the services that we and NPS colleagues can
offer. Leaving care services should be made available to those residents who are;
 Eligible
 Want a Service

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Some residents may have other sources of support and feel they do not need care
leaving services, or may not wish to engage with care leaving services. It is
important that residents who are eligible can make informed choices. Staff should
therefore explain those services that might be available and encourage contact
between the resident and leaving care services.
10.5 Contact the Responsible Authority
Unless there are public protection reasons (check via PPU), you should normally
contact the ‘Responsible Authority’. The last authority to have looked after the
resident in acre is known as the Responsible Authority. The authority will be able to
clarify whether or not the resident is eligible for Leaving Care Services. The majority
of care leavers wish to sustain a relationship with their responsible authority. For
many care leavers, their local authority assumed parental responsibilities for them
under a care order and consequently, they looked at their local authority for the
practical advice and support a parent would normally offer.
This support, along with support for education and housing etc. could help the
resident desist from offending. The statutory obligations of the local authority do not
end just because a resident is in custody or is on a community sentence and it is
important to encourage the resident to have contact with their local authority.

10.6 Develop an Effective Working Relationship with the Responsible Authority

If the individual is a Former Relevant Child and wishes to receive leaving care
support you should expect the Responsible Authority to ensure that the individual is
provided with:

 A Personal Adviser- the details of whom should be recorded on nDelius

alongside other details of the young adult’s care leaver status

 An up to date Pathway Plan

 Contingency provision for support in the event of a crisis when released

(including respite care where appropriate).

 If the resident is not a Former Relevant Child but qualifies for ‘Advice and
Assistance’ you should work with the Local Authority to establish what is or
could be provided.

10.7 Assist the Individual to Address Some of the Potential Disadvantages of Being
a Care Leaver
Potential disadvantages include: a lack of support networks (family / friends);
becoming institutionalised; low educational attainment; poor practical skills required
for living independently; absence of positive role models; low self-esteem; and a
sense of abandonment and loneliness. Care leavers can also have a lack of trust for
others, often due to a lack of affectionate bonds with adults in childhood.

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You can support care leavers by working with them in a pro-social way, i.e. a manner
which is positive, respectful and models the type of attitudes and behaviour that will
support positive change. In particular, it is important to show optimism that the
individual can turn their life around, to provide motivation, and to offer hope for the
future.
You should work with the care leaver to identify relevant objectives to set within the
sentence plan, with associated actions and activities to address areas of need. The
sentence plan should build on the support that the resident may be receiving from
leaving care services, ensuring an integrated approach.
Actions may include:
 strengthening social capital, e.g. facilitating positive interaction with supportive
peers and cultural or religious groups

 gaining literacy and numeracy skills

 help to gain employment and/or qualifications

 obtaining support with life skills such as cooking, financial management and
debt

 coaching individuals to learn and develop simple problem solving skills,

empowering them to solve problems themselves - with guidance - rather than
simply advising or resolving their problems for them

 access to mentoring, advocacy services or support groups (more details

below).

There are a number of organisations available that might be able to provide support
with these issues. Some of the details of these organisations are provided in the
Resources section below, but the local authority might be able to provide details of
others.

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Care Leaver Resources

Support Groups / Peer Supporters – Many care leavers appreciate the opportunity
to meet others and discuss their experiences. It allows them to feel more normal and
to become more self-aware. For advice on setting up a support group for care
leavers or on developing a network of peer supporters in custody – contact Lorna
Edmondson, Belief in Change Programme, HMP
Risley:lorna.edmondson@hmps.gsi.gov.uk

Mentoring – Care leavers can prove to be enthusiastic and effective mentors. The
Care Leavers Association has launched a mentoring programme in the North West
of England called Foundations. For further information contact Darren Coyne: email
info@careleavers.org

Advocacy Services – advocacy services often have experience with care leavers in
custody, are knowledgeable on their legal rights and can be a useful source of
advice for both care leavers and criminal justice professionals:
www.barnardos.org.uk / www.voiceyp.org / http://meiccymru.org

Staff Awareness

Useful Websites:

 Care Leavers Association – www.careleavers.com

 National Care Advisory Service (NCAS) – www.leavingcare.org

 Children’s Rights Director for England – www.rights4me.org

 Children’s Commissioner for Wales - www.childcom.org.uk

 Voices from Care - www.voicesfromcarecymru.org.uk

Publications:

 “Locked Up Looked After” – VOICE resource pack for care leavers in custody
(email help@voiceyp.org)

Legislation:

 Children Act (1989) – www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/41

 Children (Leaving Care) Act (2000) – www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/35

 The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations (Volume 3) – pages 13-15

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CHAPTER 11
11.1 Useful References in relation to Families and Significant Others;

 Transforming Rehabilitation: a summary of evidence on reducing reoffending  

MoJ (2013)
 Prisoners’ childhood and family backgrounds examines childhood and family
background of prisoners, their current family relationships, associations
between these characteristics and reoffending, and estimates numbers of
children (around 200,000 in 2009) affected by parental imprisonment (2012)
 NOMS Commissioning Intentions Factors linked to reoffending and
desistance (2014)
 Transforming Rehabilitation: a summary of evidence on reducing reoffending  
MoJ (2013)
 Prisoners’ childhood and family backgrounds examines childhood and family
background of prisoners, their current family relationships, associations
between these characteristics and reoffending, and estimates numbers of
children (around 200,000 in 2009) affected by parental imprisonment (2012)
 Prison Reform Trust Research looking at the potentially greater impact of
imprisonment on children of women prisoners (2005)
 Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System  identifies that women
are more likely to experience domestic violence (2013)
 Evaluation of the Community Support for Offenders' Families service  
Emerging learning from a NOMS funded pilot of probation based family
support services (2015)
 Emerging learning from a NOMS/Dept BIS management review about better
targeting of family case work and interventions (2014)
 NICCO The National Information Centre on Children of Offenders offering
advice and information for commissioners and professionals working with
offender’s families.
 Maintaining Family Ties PPO Learning Bulletin relating to maintaining family
ties with prisoners (Sep 2014)

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 Family Days in Prison, EuroPris summary report comprising answers to a
knowledge management system request from member administrations across
Europe (March 2016)
 Limerick Prison Family Days additional information supplied by the Irish prison
service in response to the EuroPris knowledge management system request
(March 2016)
 Beyond Youth Custody – http://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/wp-
content/uploads/The-role-of-family-support-in-resettlement-a-practitioners-
guide.pdf
 Thematic report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons - Race relations in prisons:
Responding to adult women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds
(March 2009) http://www.ohrn.nhs.uk/resource/policy/WomenandRace.pdf
 Barnados Locked Out - http://www.barnardos.org.uk/locked-out-report.pdf

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