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C1 PrisonsConstructive Connections
Constructive Connections:The impact on children of parental involvement with the CJS in GlasgowTony LongProfessor of Child & Family HealthNovember 2019
Kelly LockwoodTony Long
Ben RaikesKathryn Sharratt
Nancy LoucksBriege Nugent
Managed for the partnership by Louise Gallagher NHSGGC
To explore (with children and young people as active participants in the process) the health and social care impacts of parental involvement at three* points in the criminal justice system
To co-produce relevant and appropriate responses to the findings that enable resilience-building in the individual (children, young people, parent or carer), in both the family and community settings
Objectives
14 cases from 10 families [40 cases sought].
Young people aged 8-24 years [Started with 8-16].
Adult involved in CJS: mother=5, father=9.
Included those in court and found not guilty, serving a community order, in prison, and released from prison.
Tendency to high-level offence and sentence: one year on probation to a long-term sentence
Recruitment and sample
Type No. Examples
NHS 9 Substance, parenting, CAMHS
Prison 7 Prison, Family contact, parenting
School 5 School, Family support, Psychological support
Social Work 18 Child/family service, kinship, Criminal Justice Team
Voluntary 60 Mentor, Family support, Mental health, Substance misuse, Employability
Other 10 Community partnership, youth team, legal support, recovery, church, domestic violence
TOTAL 109
Data Collection: Interviews. Family event.
Events with practitioners and senior managers exploring findings & potential actions. Based on families' messages.
1 [Practitioners] What could be done where you work that might make things a little bit better for children and families?
2 [Managers] Which of these could be developed resourced, actioned and sustained?
Moving on to the response
Findings(from the families)
Complex lives, multiple disadvantage
Mum’s got a lot of mental health as well … she’s got, like, personality disorder, anxiety, depression.
I remember things from when I was a wee lassie, like the domestic violence… how violent and nasty he [Dad] was.
Families may need significant support: a holistic, family-centred approach that attends to the needs of the whole family.
Changed lives: Lives on hold
We're all serving a sentence too. We've been thrown into a different way of life than what we should have been.
Growing up, it was: you need to do [sister’s] homework with her, you need to teach her this, you need to make an effort. Sometimes I'm still a bitter that I didn't get to be a kid.
Early and sustained intervention is essential in order to minimise potential damage.
Secrets, honesty, andcommunications
If they don’t tell me, I find it out online.
I don’t talk about it… I didn’t tell anybody.It’s the best way of dealing with it.
Most children & young people had no outlet and no-one to trust. They bore the burden in silence.
Support at School
I got into trouble for the smallest thing and I would just burst out in tears. They didn’t understand: it was everything else.
The whole school knew. I was the only person in the whole school whose mum was in prison. I stopped going to school.
Schools were both a haven and a place of bullying.Proactive, sensitive staff. Training. Awareness.
Supporting the supporters
I see women and families at visits. Everybody's feeling the same way: dying for somebody to talk to. Nobody’s there.
They need somebody who can identify that person, know that she needs help, look her in the eye and say “I've been where you are and so have my kids”.
Prioritise funding for services devised and operated by those with lived experience of the CJS
Humanising the CJS
Mum got shouted at in the street. [Brother] was spat on and chased: “Your dad’s a rapist!” We have no protection.
They know I’m not old enough to be searched. “Open your mouth and empty your pockets”. It’s shit, but we have to…
More intimate contact with the imprisoned parent in visits would exert a positive impact.
[Thanks to the COPE network]
Practitioner/Manager Messages
• Acceptance of the reports from the children and families
• The driver must be the child’s welfare
• Determination to do better in some way, and creative thoughts on this
• Recognition of the need for varied approaches to address constraints
Key messages from the project
• Under-used or unavailable sources of support
• Humanising children’s experience from the point of arrest to years after release
• Research access, gatekeeping, & double jeopardy
Constructive Connections:The impact on children of parentalinvolvement with the CJS in Glasgow
What happens now?
[email protected] [email protected]@salford.ac.uk [email protected]
