Children of Prisoners, Interventions and Mitigations to Strengthen Mental Health

"For me, COPING has meant getting through a tough time in life...from the moment my father was sentenced, as I have continually adapted to changes in my life."

This European Union (EU) conference outcome report from the end-of-project conference on The COPING (Children of Prisoners: Interventions and Mitigations to Strengthen Mental Health) Project identifies broadly comparative data about children’s needs, resilience and self-esteem across four countries: Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom (UK), and Romania.

The project surveyed 0.4% of the estimated total population of children of prisoners in the four COPING countries, a total of 737 children, 479 families, and 1,347 individual surveys. COPING researchers also conducted face-to face interviews, a total of 349 divided between the children, their parent/carers, and their imprisoned parent. Theoretical concepts presented as background of information include:

• Risk for intergenerational crime
• Stigma
• Attachment issues
• Ambiguous loss
• Resilience

As stated in the findings section, children are affected negatively by stigma and family violence, but caregivers' and extended families' support was found to be crucial for children's resilience in all four countries. There was strong evidence about support from schools for children in the UK, Sweden, and Germany. Possible school support may come from help with academic performance and homework. They are also able to provide emotional support and look for signposts of counselling needs. A child-friendly environment within the prison can enhance early, continuous, and open contact with the imprisoned parent. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can play a key role in supporting children of prisoners.

"The top three needs for children of prisoners identified in all four COPING country studies from a questionnaire including questions on health, school, holidays and other aspects of children’s daily lives were:
1. Help visiting a parent in prison
2. Being with family after school (interpreted as a need for strengthening family relationships)
3. Help with homework"

Areas for further research include studying the gender difference in impact of an imprisoned parent on boys and girls. "Evidence from the UK is that children miss their father in prison equally as much as their mother; and also that girls are more able to talk about their feelings, and that boys are more likely to display disruptive behaviour at home and at school."

Policy and practice improvements across the EU include:

1. "Child-friendly Criminal Justice Systems
2. Maintaining Contact with the Parent in Prison
3. Advice and Support to Parents and Care Givers
4. The Role of the School
5. Public Awareness and Policy Recognition"

Recommendation 1: Imprisoned parents should be offered opportunities to contribute to their children's daily lives, including involvement in schooling, when feasible. Caregiving parents, grandparents, and siblings should be recognised by States and provided services by their agencies, and those services should be advertised to families. Solutions from young people include: make guidelines and advice available to parents on how to tell children about parental imprisonment; if a parent is unwilling to tell a child, a trusted adult or social service agency who knows the child's needs should tell them; and children need to ask questions without fear of parent reaction.

Recommendation 2: A review of arrest and search policies in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) should take into consideration children and families of the accused, including police training for situations when children are present. COPING recommends media sensitivity to reporting the incarceration of parents and school sensitivity to stigmatisation of children.

Recommendation 3: Training materials for teachers and counsellors need to be produced and used to raise awareness of emotional and education support of children of the imprisoned. Young people suggest that schools take more responsibility for these children, have theme days to address rumours and to normalise the situation of children with imprisoned parents, and teach about the legal system as an academic subject.

Recommendation 4: Agencies should offer support for families and family relationships when a parent is imprisoned and advertise their services. Young people suggest provision of counsellors for families, support groups, formation of closed groups for safe disclosure, trust building among those who work with children, and help with parent understanding of child issues.

Recommendation 5: Visitation should be well supported by trained prison staff. Adults should be available to visit prisons with children. Visitors’ centres are needed within prisons. Affordable phone calls among family members and prisoners are needed. There should be respectful and child-friendly behaviour from staff. Family days and flexible visitation hours are suggested. There is a need for financial support to help with visits. And, lastly, contact with a parent in prison should stem from the desire of the child.

Drawings of young people were presented at the conference, as well as a DVD of a child's spoken poem, "The teacher that didn’t understand."

A panel spoke about how to new ideas to address the various needs of children of prisoners within their own field (summarised on pages 28-30 of the document.)