Directory of Research

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:

This rapid evidence assessment looks at 29 studies of 26 interventions and grades the research according to the scientific methods scale. Achieved family related and general intermediate outcomes are picked out. Relevant identified outcomes include; increased knowledge about parenting/parenting skills, improved relationship with child, improved communication with child via visits/letters and decreased parenting stress. This assessment highlights that current studies do not allow us to draw...
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This edition of the Children of Prisoners Europe newsletter explores the systems that affect children of prisoners at different stages leading up to the imprisonment of their parents. It includes various articles and research papers by judges, lawyers, lecturers, researchers and so on. The articles in this newsletter cover a range of issues, including the arrest procedure and its impact on children, considering the impact of imprisonment on children at the point of sentencing, reducing...
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This edition of the Children of Prisoners Europe newsletter looks at national focuses on protocols relating to children of prisoners throughout Europe. The first article explores the role of the EU in defending the rights of children of prisoners, whilst the other articles focus on the judicial contexts and situations in the UK, Latvia, France, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Serbia and Ukraine. The UK article looks specifically at HMP Hewell's practice in regard to children and families of...
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This edition of the Children of Prisoners Europe newsletter explores the practical issues associated with visiting a parent in prison, as well as the emotional impact these issues can have on children. The articles in this newsletter look at how children are affected by visiting prison in various countries across Europe, exploring some of the initiatives in place that aim to improve the visiting experience. See Justice for Children below:
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This peer reviewed article notes that while statutory services support for children of prisoners is key, it is likely to be minimal and that decisions around provision are made according to local circumstance e.g. budgets, need, local politics etc. The researchers used a typology of different cultures which ground local authority service provision for children of prisoners and identify the gaps and problems within attempts to align different services into a clear provision pattern in one... Click here
This 4th and final special edition of Justice for Children of Prisoners newsletters looks at current policies and practice which are in place and looks forward to how these can be developed further so that the Children of Prisoners gain more recognition. Articles are from a broad spectrum of pan European authors including children's rights commissioners, academics, charity coordinators and UNCRC members. They explore concepts and practicalities such as video calls from prison,...
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The Centre is delivered by Barnardo’s in partnership with His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).
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