Book help for prisoners' children

By Laura Smith-Spark
BBC News

How do you tell a five-year-old child their father has gone to prison - and may not be coming home for several years?

With more than 150,000 children experiencing the imprisonment of a parent every year in England and Wales, many families are faced with a tough choice of what to tell them.

In Finding Dad, James, 8, is told his father is on a "secret mission"

Now the charity Action for Prisoners' Families (APF) has produced a series of books designed to help children and families cope better.

When families choose to tell the truth, the child may suffer loss, anger and social stigma as a result.

Many families instead pretend the jailed parent has "gone on holiday" or is working abroad - or simply refuse to discuss the issue.

But this strategy can backfire badly if the child finds out the truth through the media or bullying at school.

APF's new storybooks - called Danny's Mum, Tommy's Dad and Finding Dad - will be officially launched on Thursday and distributed by the Prison Service to every jail in England and Wales.

Something in the region of a third are not told where their parent is taken - though a lot work it out for themselves Lucy Gampell Action for Prisoners' Families

The organisation hopes they will also be used by carers and teachers to prompt open discussion, so helping prisoners' children feel less alone.

Director Lucy Gampell said: "Often kids are bullied or teased or judged along with the parent.

"You find other parents stop inviting them for tea and they are not allowed out to play - they get ostracised.

"If children feel confident and able to talk about their situation, they are going to perform better at school and won't be worrying, won't be living with this secret.

'Secret mission'

"Something in the region of a third are not told where their parent is taken - though a lot work it out for themselves."

In Finding Dad, eight-year-old James turns to a fantasy detective world after his father disappears with police - and his mother will say only that he has gone on a "secret mission".

Four out of 10 prisoners lose touch with their families while in jail

The boy ends up trying to protect his mother from the truth, thinking she does not know his father is in jail.

Author Daniel Lee said: "The idea is to help stop children feeling isolated and also address why parents don't sometimes tell the truth.

"It's not just about a child whose parent is in prison but also about children separated from one parent, perhaps by divorce, and how they can come to terms with that."

APF hopes drawings by well-known illustrators Korky Paul and Nick Sharratt will make the books appeal to children of all ages.

Trouble coping

Government figures show up to 500,000 young people have had a parent in jail by the age of 16, while one quarter of young offenders are fathers.

At the same time, children of prisoners are three times more likely to suffer serious mental health problems than their peers and often have trouble coping at school.

David Wilson, professor of criminology at the University of Central England, said the rising prison population made the issue all the more urgent.

Families more often break down if a mother is imprisoned

"People who end up in jail, by and large, are young men who often have dependent children," he said.

"Often what happens is that the fathers lose touch with their children as a consequence of going into jail.

"There is a stigma both for the child losing a father and for the father no longer able to accept responsibility for their child."

The Prison Service has backed the books, especially in the light of figures showing 43% of prisoners lose touch with their families while in jail.

"We recognise the impact imprisonment has on the children of prisoners and the importance of effective family relations," a spokeswoman said.

Experts say reoffending rates also drop where prisoners remain close to their relatives on release.

Prof Wilson - a former prison governor - believes extra support for families during a parent's jail term cannot come soon enough.

He said: "The saddest thing of all used to be when the visit days happened and the child and father just didn't know how to speak to each other."