November 15, 2024

Celebrating three more years of funding for Prisoners’ Families

With huge thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund, we’re so chuffed to tell you that we’ve won three years’ worth of funding to keep supporting children who have a parent in prison and their families.

Many children who have a parent in prison serve what we call a ‘hidden sentence’. So often, they carry a sense of shame, guilt and confusion about where their mum or dad might be, feeling like they need to keep it a secret, or not knowing how to talk about it to people around them. This can leave children feeling lonely, scared and isolated – all for something that isn’t their fault. That’s where our Prisoners’ Families service comes in.

We support children in Merseyside aged 5 – 18 to cope with the difficulties of having a parent in prison. We introduce them to other people their age who are in the same boat, make sure they’re not on their own with their feelings and help children to process their emotions. We’ll support children to visit their parent in prison if needed, and we’ll give them some much-needed space to just… be a kid. We also work with the children’s families to help them have good conversations about imprisonment and what the children can expect, and give family members time to support each other.

Not only that, but our expert team also train professionals, like teachers, in how to go about supporting children who have a parent in prison, for example, while they’re at school.

We couldn’t be more proud of the work we do with the children who need us – and we’re made up that our funding pot from The National Lottery Community Fund means we can keep on being there for the next three years.