‘You’ll never understand until it happens to you’: Exploring the impact on children and young people (CYP) of having a household family member in prison

• In Event: Prison Working Group: The intersection of family and incarceration: Mental health, parenting, and familly dynamics

Abstract

Background: Approximately at least one child in every UK school is affected by parental imprisonment. Less is known about the proportion of children and young people (CYP) impacted by imprisonment of a wider family member (such as siblings or grandparents). By taking a child-centred and rights-based approach to health, this paper presents findings from a two-year project aiming to understand the long-term impact of familial imprisonment on CYP’s mental health, emotional wellbeing and relationships.
Methods: 19 CYP in Northern England and Scotland who have a family member in prison have taken part in a series of longitudinal interviews (up to three over the course of 1 year). Within interviews, creative approaches (including narrated drawing and ‘worry mapping’) have been used to explore experiences of family imprisonment and its effects on the lives and wellbeing of CYP.
Findings: CYP described the impact of concealment and associated stress on their physical and emotional lives, and the techniques they employed to avoid and navigate stigma around proximity to the criminal justice system. CYP put forward a number of recommendations for: improving experiences of familial imprisonment, and how CYP could be better supported at all stages of contact with the criminal justice system and prisons more specifically. We will share creative outputs including comic strips and a film, both of which were co-created with CYP with lived experience of familial imprisonment.
Conclusions and next steps: Our work highlights the importance of including the voices of CYP and families when we focus on the impact of imprisonment, and strengthening of family ties should have a broader remit than simply to reduce re-offending. Findings and creative outputs from this project will be used to create a suite of resources including a co-produced a rights-based manifesto advocating for a child and family focused prison visiting system.

Authors

• Naomi Griffin, Newcastle University

• Steph Scott, Newcastle University