Visiting Mum: Children's Perspectives on a Supported Scheme When Visiting Their Mother in Prison

• Published in: Child care in practice : Northern Ireland journal of multi-disciplinary child care practice Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 247 - 262
• Main Authors: Rees, Alyson, Maxwell, Nina, Lyttleton-Smith, Jennifer, Staples, Eleanor
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 03.07.2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Children; Childrens Attitudes; Correctional Institutions; Female offenders; Foreign Countries; Imprisonment; Institutionalized Persons; Interpersonal Relationship; Mother in prison; Mothers; Negative Attitudes; Parent Child Relationship; Prisons; secondary stigmatisation; Social Bias; United Kingdom (Wales); United Kingdom > UK; Wales
• ISSN: 1357-5279; 1476-489X
• DOI: 10.1080/13575279.2020.1769025

This article reports the findings from a qualitative study evaluating a Visiting Mum scheme that supported Welsh children with a mother in prison. There are 12 women's prisons in England, and none in Wales. Women living in south and west Wales are currently incarcerated at HMP Eastwood Park, Gloucestershire. This is significant for Welsh children, as journeys to the prison are extensive and costly. This article focuses on the rarely heard experiences of the children when visiting prison. We ran focus groups with 12 children utilising innovative, participatory and creative methods. The findings reveal a hidden population of children who suffer disproportionately as a result of their mother's incarceration but who were effectively supported by a service which helped to sustain mother-child relationships during their mothers' imprisonment.