Support
for Families.
Our Support Package
Children Heard And Seen is a charity that supports children and families impacted by parental imprisonment. We offer :
- One to one support with specialised staff for children to explore and understand their emotions surrounding their family member in prison
- Support for parents and carers around communicating with children, including ways to tell your child that their parent is in prison
- Activity groups for children to explore feelings and meet others in similar circumstances
- Volunteer mentoring to help children process emotions with a neutral person outside of the family home
- Parenting support
- Online support and online activities for children
- Activity days including our annual Summer Residential
If you would like support, please email us at info@childrenheardandseen.co.uk
Tailored 1:1 support sessions
We provide weekly one-to-one support for children with a parent in prison with our Children and Families Practitioners. These sessions provide an opportunity for children to talk about their feelings relating to having a parent in prison, develop strategies to manage complex emotions and understand the process of imprisonment by covering each stage of the custodial sentence. This can be delivered in person or online via Zoom to families, depending on access and suitability.
Many of the families we support have never told anyone outside of their family that they have a parent in prison. Sessions use our own CHAS workbook which provides an opportunity to talk about fears relating to having a parent in prison and help children to understand the process of imprisonment by covering each stage of the custodial sentence. The course ends by looking to the future and encouraging children to think about what they want to achieve and where they want to be in 10 years. This is designed to instil a lasting positive self-image that empowers a young person to choose a different path to the offending parent.
Examples of our 1:1 support can include: therapeutic support through Drawing & Talking; exploring creativity and emotions through our Music Project; photo-book/memory box making; letter-writing support using our own designed templates.
Volunteer mentors
Through our volunteer mentorship scheme, responsible adults are matched with children based on common interests, age, and the individual needs of the child. A mentor helps to ensure that a child has the opportunity to try new things, access resources and develop life skills, whilst also acting as a positive role model.
Together, the mentor and the child set goals to help in improve achievement in school, strengthen social relationships or develop new skills. Each mentor meets with the child weekly for one to one sessions, providing a neutral person outside of the family home that they can speak to about their feelings.
The value of mentoring relationships can be seen in Ryan’s story, accessible using the button below.
Peer support and activity groups
We provide peer support work and group work for children and family members impacted by parental imprisonment. These sessions combat feelings of shame by showing children that they are not alone. Groups can take place either online or in-person.
Children's Groups
Our groups provide an opportunity for children with a parent in prison to realise they are not alone, and reduce feelings of stigma, shame and social isolation often associated with their parent’s imprisonment. They are designed to be non-intrusive environments where children can freely explore their feelings surrounding their parent’s imprisonment with other children who share their experiences.
Our aim is to improve the emotional wellbeing of children who attend, allowing them to maximise their own potential in other areas.
Our current group work programme is listed below, however it does regularly change due to need and demand.
- Children Heard and Seen Everywhere (CHASE) – arts and crafts group exploring themes and topics for U10s
- Create Aspiration Love Mental Wellbeing (CALM) – Group for children aged 8+
- Imagine and Invent – Stem based group for ages 8+.
- Drawing and Talking – therapeutic group with drawing and talking trained practitioners
- Minecraft Group – Minecraft used as a therapeutic tool to connect children affected by parental imprisonment in a fun and interactive way, so they know they are not alone.
Parent/Carer Groups
Our parent/carer support is for the non-offending parent/carer, whether or not they are still in a relationship with the parent in prison.
Parents have the opportunity to meet others in a similar situation and form peer-support groups, aided by our trained staff. We 6-8 different adult support groups a week. These include groups for adults impacted by specific offence types, such as domestic abuse, and sexual offences.
Our current group work programme is listed below, however it does regularly change due to need and demand.
- Comfort Group – group that shares hopes and advice that deals with the journey of families affected by parental imprisonment
- Exploring Trauma – Support for individuals that have been impacted by trauma
- Support group for mothers caring for children with a father in prison for sexual offences
- Kids Matter Parenting Programme – 6-week parenting support group
Activity Days and Residential Weekends
Summer Residential
Our annual Summer Residential is an opportunity for children and their families to come together and celebrate their shared experience in a safe and non-judgemental environment. Children are able to roam free around the 67 acres of Hill End, taking part in
activities such as football, boxing, creative art activities, nature trails, and so much more. The weekend provides an opportunity to reduce social isolation, feelings of stigma and forge long-term, sustainable peer support networks with others in similar situations.
One of the highlights of the weekend is a visit from three Police Officers. They speak to young people and answer any questions they may have about the police. For many children, their only previous experience of Police Officers is the arrest of their parent. The weekend is a great opportunity to show young people the Police Force in a different, more positive light and rebuild relationships with authority
Activity Days
We also hold monthly in-person activity events in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Birmingham. These include activities at local museums, botanical gardens, libraries, wildlife parks and other activity centres, as well as our annual Christmas and Easter parties. One of our most popular group activities in Oxford is a project with Modern Art Oxford, where each month children impacted by parental imprisonment explore different themes through art. These sessions focus on different themes each month, such as belonging, control, and exploration.
Parenting support
We support parents around all aspects of parental imprisonment, including how to tell children they have a parent in prison, issues around contact and visits and support around release as this is often the most stressful time for families. Our support is for the non-offending parent, whether or not they are still in a relationship with the parent in prison.
Additional Resources
We understand that reaching out and asking for support can be difficult at times, and that many families follow our work online via social media for quite some time before reaching out for direct support. To try and help in the meantime, we offer a range of generalised resources designed to help families navigate the difficult waters of parental imprisonment. When a family makes contact with the charity, our specialised staff are able to work with the carer to create personalised resources, taking into account the child’s developmental needs, the nature of the parent’s offence and the child’s relationship with the imprisoned parent.
To view all our (and other organisation’s) resources, click on the ‘Resources’ tab above.
Refer to Children Heard and Seen
If you are caring for a child with a parent in prison and would like to access support for yourself or your child, please get in touch at info@childrenheardandseen.co.uk