The Thames Valley Partnership work in partnership with the statutory, private and voluntary sectors, to provide long-term sustainable solutions to the problems of crime and social exclusion. They have had a long standing interest in supporting practitioners who work with the children and families of offenders and prisoners.
The aims of this work are to support the resettlement of offenders and break the cycle of offending within families through:
- Improving access to support and provision of information for the families and children of offenders and prisoners.
- Integrating the work of the criminal justice agencies and family and children's services in support of these vulnerable families.
- Strengthening family ties of prisoners to aid their re-integration into their family and community where appropriate
Their Family Matters programme has developed a model enabling integrated support for offenders' families, through encouraging multi-agency work and linking up Criminal Justice agencies to family support services. The programme also provides resources for professionals to support the children and families of offenders, awareness raising training and multi-agency networks to encourage professionals from criminal justice and family support services to better support this vulnerable group. Thames Valley Partnership's Court Desk Service support families by providing information, advice and signposting to other services as well as providing long-term intensive support if appropriate, at a time when they are often in immediate need. The Court Desks are staffed by volunteers and are located at Aylesbury, Amersham, Oxford and Reading Crown Courts once a week on sentencing days.
See Thames Valley Partnership for further information, and download the document below outlining the headline acheivements of the Family Matters programme.
E: admin@thamesvalleypartnership.org.uk
T: 01844 202001 / 07763 108136
W: http://www.thamesvalleypartnership.org.uk/
