Children Heard and Seen

Campaigning

As an organisation, our aim is not to continue growing into a national charity, but to achieve our aims and cease to exist within the next 3 to 5 years. Chief among our aims is for parental imprisonment to be officially recognised in law and for there to be a national mechanism for identifying and supporting children with a parent in prison. You can help us make this happen!

Write to your MP:

Writing to your local MP is an effective way to make your voice heard. Your MP is elected to represent you in parliament and has the ultimate power to effect legislative change. Change happens from the ground up—if we all took local action, it would lead to national change. Our campaign to support children and families impacted by parental imprisonment is cross-party: no matter their party, your MP can voice their support and get involved.

What to Say:

We recommend making your letter as personal as possible – candidates are more likely to act if they can see that something has personally affected one of their future constituents. Below are two template letters highlighting the harms of parental imprisonment and suggesting our proposed change to the current law to identify and support children with a parent in prison. The 'Labour Template' is designed for Labour MPs and reminds them of their manifesto pledges to support children with a parent in prison. The 'General Template' is designed for MPs from other parties. Feel free to use these templates and add/amend your own words to them. Remember to write your full name and address as part of your letter/email to ensure a response.

Find your local MP:

If you don't know who your local MP is or would like to know their contact details, follow the link below and enter your postcode.