Perspectives of children and young people with a parent in prison

This report presents the findings of a small-scale pilot study to explore the experiences of children and young people who have had a family member sent to prison. Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP) commissioned Families Outside to undertake the work between October and December 2009. Effects of a family member’s imprisonment on children parallel children’s experiences of bereavement. This includes deterioration in behaviour, in physical and mental health, and in social and financial circumstances. Imprisonment can also impact children’s housing and care arrangements, schooling, victimisation, substance misuse, and risk of future offending. Each year in Scotland, more children will experience a parent’s imprisonment than a parent’s divorce. (Families Outside, 2009). This affects an estimated 16,500 children in Scotland annually. A key recommendation in a report from Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People (Marshall, K Not Seen. Not Heard. Not Guilty, 2008), was for Child Impact Assessments to be conducted in court. A review of the literature in Part I examines some of the key themes of trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other consequences liable to arise from parental imprisonment. Part II, through a series of qualitative interviews with children, young people and some carers, explores experiences of a parental imprisonment; what input they would want into the decisions that affect them, and how they would want to provide this input; their thoughts about the arrest, trial, and imprisonment; whether their views were taken into account; and what effects the experience had on them. These questions are important because feedback from children about this traumatic event is not always considered. Part III draws together some discussion from the literature review and the interview findings