Barnardo’s organised a special day for families of prisoners living on the Isle of Wight last week! with around a dozen families from the charity’s Community Support for Offenders’ (CSOF) programme attending the event funded by a thanksgiving collection at the charity’s church in London.
The pioneering CSOF scheme brings local services together to coordinate better support for families who can feel isolated, stressed and stigmatised when a family member is serving a prison sentence, or involved in the Criminal Justice system.
Barnardo’s CSOF Senior Practitioner in the South East, Susie Bryant works closely with Island families that have been helped by the programme.
She said:
“It was a brilliant opportunity for families to come together and meet each other. Their children often say other children don’t understand them because they don’t have a parent in prison. It’s good that they can talk to somebody who has been in the same situation and knows how it feels without the fear of being judged.”
Around 200,000 children in the UK have a parent in prison. On the Isle of Wight, of the 1200 children born each year, 84 will experience the imprisonment of a parent, which is around 7% of all children.
Susie added:
“Barnardo’s works hard to reduce the isolation which children of prisoners face within their community. The service also helps families with practical issues, as well as supporting emotional wellbeing, building family resilience and helping children keep in contact with their parent in prison. This contact is crucial to reducing reoffending.
Article continues below this advertisement “As well as improving family functioning it helps children feel better about their situation. It reduces children’s anger, shame and anxiety levels and increases self-confidence.”
