All research and evidence on NICCO is reviewed using a Quality Assessment Tool (QAT) developed by the University of Huddersfield and Barnardo's.
Research and evidence is assessed in four key areas: Methodological Quality, Child-Centredness, Relevance to Policy and Strategy, and Relevance to Practice with offender's children. This ensures that items on the NICCO website are as useful as possible to academics, practitioners, commissioners and other professionals. For more information about the development of the QAT or to review research in order to list it on NICCO, please see the QAT webpage where you can download the Tool, Guidebook and a short step-by-step 'How To' document. Please contact us to submit quality assessed research on to NICCO.
Click on the icons to see a full list of items which have been awarded a standard icon or icon+ (for items which have scored particularly highly) in each key area:
Results 31 - 36 of 37
This report details recommended changes to improve the experience for children visiting prisons.
Based on interviews with mothers and children who visit male prisons, the recommendations are intended to make prison visits as positive as possible for the children and young people involved. Examples of best practice are included throughout the report, as well as a focus on highlighting the concerns of the affected children and families. The report is largely organised according to the six recommendations detailed below:
1. All prisons should view visits as a family intervention, under the remit of reducing reoffending, rather than a security risk.
2. Searches of children and babies should be made more child-friendly and proportionate to the security risks posed.
3. Children's visits to male prisons should be separate from the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme, as they are for women's prisons.
4. The National Offender Management Service should simplify the form and process for applying to the Assisted Prison Visits scheme.
5. Play facilities and visitor services within prisons should reach a consistent national standard, and the National Offender Management Service should issue guidance for governors, informed by advice from Ofsted.
6. Children should be permitted to bring homework and school reading books into and out of prisons.
Please see Barnardo's Locked Out below:
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This Prison Reform Trust discussion paper considers the sentencing of women with children and provides a number of proposals intended to ensure children are taken into account when it comes to sentencing decisions for mothers.
It begins with a summary of these proposals, then gives a contextual overview of the sentencing of women, looks at mothers and their children affected by the criminal justice system, existing guidance in England and Wales with an account of inconsistent practice, before finally outlining the proposals in greater detail. The paper considers research on mothers' imprisonment, relevant sentencing law, perspectives of imprisoned mothers, consultations with various organisations, and identifies good practice in the UK and internationally in order to inform the discussion. It also includes in Appendix 1 a summary of the Court of Appeal decision in R v Petherick where a defendant's sentence was reduced due to the effect parental imprisonment would have on the defendant's child.
Read more about the Sentencing of Mothers below:
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This short, accessible, children's rights focused article outlines the University of Huddersfield's 2013 COPING study into the mental health and resilience of children of prisoners across Europe.
There is an initial introduction to some of the challenges children with parents in prison face and consideration of how this differs across Europe. The author, who took part in the study, includes insights from the children that he conducted interviews with and includes images of pictures some drew in relation to their parents imprisonment. General recommendations for policy and practice in the criminal justice system, schools and elsewhere are briefly bullet pointed at the end.
You can access Prisons without walls for free from the University of Huddersfield's repository below:
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This report combines a wide-reaching literature review with small scale data collection to highlight the impact of maternal imprisonment on children.
The literature review draws on key research to develop a broad understanding of the emotional and physical effects of having a mother in prison, whilst identifying the lack of both research and service provision in this area. The review is supported by outcomes data gathered from Re-Unite children's workers, combined with feedback from children directly affected by maternal imprisonment. The paper presents a summary of key themes emerging from the study with a number of recommendations for further development. The recommendations for further development are particularly useful for strategic and policy level change to provision.
See Children on the Edge - Children affected by maternal imprisonment below:
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This article is an exploratory study of the impact of maternal imprisonment on children and adolescents.
Using a comprehensive literature review and preliminary data collection the authors construct a developmental framework to examine the diverse impact of maternal imprisonment on children at differing stages of development. The article presents a number of observations relating to the impact of maternal imprisonment, outlining the implications of these findings and proposing a number of recommendations for improved policy and practice, and further research. Whilst the article is focused on Canada, the findings and implications remain relevant for the U.K.
See Waiting for Mommy below:
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This evaluation explores the work and benefits of Ormiston's Breaking Barriers outreach service for children with a loved one who has recently been sentenced to prison.
The service, which offers 8 visits from a practitioner to a child in school, is assessed in relation to the aims of the service using service data, first hand interviews with children and parents and anecdotal evidence from school partners. The evaluation ends with clear recommendations for running the service, (such as post-intervention follow ups, awareness raising about children of prisoners) as well as evaluating (using direct measures against the service aims for example).
You can read the Breaking Barriers evaluation on the Ormiston website or download it below:
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