Councils are ignoring the needs of prisoners’ children warns Barnardo’s

Councils are ignoring the needs of children whose parents are behind bars, a leading children’s charity claimed today.  Barnardo’s said nine out of ten local authorities across the UK have no specific policies for helping them.  That is despite studies suggesting prisoners’ children are more likely to suffer from mental health problems or get caught up in anti-social behaviour.

Barnardo’s said nine out of ten local authorities across the UK have no specific policies for helping prisoners’ children (photo posed by model).  The charity said councils were ignoring Government directives that require them to consider one of society’s most vulnerable groups.

Barnardo’s director of policy and research Julian Walker said: ‘We cannot continue to neglect the needs of these children when there is so much we can do.

‘The consequences of failure to address their needs will rebound on the children themselves and on society as a whole.

‘Barnardo’s has services across the UK which help children to overcome the difficulties they face when mum or dad is sent to prison.’

Walker added: ‘We know from experience that the harmful effects on a child of losing a parent in this way can be buffered and the damaging cycle can be broken.’

There are an estimated 160,000 children in the UK with one or more parent in prison – more than twice the number of children in local authority care.

A Barnardo’s pamphlet, Every Night You Cry, revealed that only 13 of 150 council children’s plans in England and only two out of 22 in Wales even mention the children of prisoners as a vulnerable group.

In Scotland, just four out of 32 children’s services plans and in Northern Ireland four health and social services board plans mention prisoners’ children.

The charity called for ministers to make sure these children are considered by councils, and for the courts to be given more information about how sentences will impact on criminals and their families.

To make a regular donation to Barnardo’s from your pay click here