PROJECT
Operation Paramount
PURPOSE
To identify and support children with a parent in prison
FUNDING
£29,450 for 2022/23 from Thames Valley Police plus wider funding for early intervention work via the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit. CHAS used core funding to support children identified by the project. CHAS's annual funding for 2021/22 was £371,270
BACKGROUND
More than 310,000 children in England and Wales each year are thought to be affected by a parent going to prison. Research suggests these children are at risk of significantly worse outcomes than their peers including an increased risk of being drawn into crime themselves or developing mental health problems.
However, there are currently no statutory systems in place in the UK to identify and support children when a parent is jailed.
Operation Paramount is a joint project between charity Children Heard and Seen (CHAS) and the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) – which operates across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire – who were keen to explore how official data could be used to identify and support children as soon as a parent goes to prison.
ACTION
CHAS has worked with families affected by parental imprisonment since 2014 with the aim of boosting children's wellbeing and reducing intergenerational offending. Previously it relied on children's services to identify children who required support but a 2021 survey by the charity found many were not accessing its services until several years after a parent was sentenced.
One of the key aims of the Operation Paramount project was to ensure a more systematic approach to identifying children in need of support using data held by HM Prison and Probation Service. The service has data on when people enter and leave prison. Police forces regularly request information about when someone is going to be released. “But this was the first time an agency had accessed data on the day they go in,” says sergeant Russ Massie from Thames Valley VRU.
The unit compared the list of adults in prison with information held by other local statutory services to try to identify children living in the region who may be affected. “From data across our three counties we recognised an average of one child a day as having a parent go to prison,” says Massie.
The unit carries out background checks to assess whether it is appropriate to approach the family before making telephone contact. If the family agrees, they send out a police officer who explains the support CHAS offers. The officer makes a referral or leaves details to enable families to self-refer. “At that point, which is really important, the police involvement ceases,” explains Massie.
When CHAS pick up the case, their intervention begins with a needs assessment. “Every family is different,” says CHAS director and founder Emma Burrows. “But they all share similar feelings around shame, stigma and isolation. Children have witnessed appalling things such as concrete blocks thrown through their window, faeces posted through their door, or their parents being beaten up.”
The charity offers a package of support including weekly one-to-one advice from a trained practitioner. During these face-to-face or online sessions the practitioner explains the process of imprisonment and encourages the child to discuss their feelings.
CHAS also offers group sessions so children can meet others in the same situation. Each focuses on a particular activity, such as art therapy and tackles issues such as separation anxiety, loneliness and loss. “They can see other children who are as normal as they are, even though they feel very different,” says Burrows.
The charity also offers mentoring, hosts parental support groups, and provides free online resources. It also holds annual summer residential weekend breaks with 194 families taking part in 2022.
The model was initially trialled in the city of Oxford in autumn 2021 and then rolled out across Oxfordshire. By July 2023, it was also operating across Buckinghamshire and in West Berkshire.
OUTCOME
From November 2021 to March 2023, Operation Paramount identified 502 children recently affected by parental imprisonment. As of July 2023 the charity was actively supporting 308 children.
Burrows says Operation Paramount has definitely speeded up the process of idenitifying children. “This means they can start processing the trauma much earlier than holding onto it,” she says.
Data from the charity suggests the support it offers has helped reduce the risk of young people getting involved in crime themselves. Research by crime and justice specialists Crest Advisory suggests 65 per cent of boys with a parent in prison go on to commit a crime. However, out of more than 865 young people supported by CHAS between 2014 and 2023, just four – less than 0.5 per cent – went on to commit an offence.
Parents involved with CHAS have reported improved wellbeing among their children. In 2022, a survey asked families to score children's wellbeing out of 10. Just 12 per cent of the 32 families that took part scored their child's wellbeing at seven or above before the intervention but that shot up to 100 per cent after involvement in the project.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Operation Paramount model is being replicated and is currently being used in Birmingham.
South Wales VPU and Cornwall VPU (violence prevention unit)have also commissioned CHAS to deliver training to professionals working with children affected by parental imprisonment so they can also deliver the model.
In the long-term, CHAS wants there to be a national system of identification and support for children with a parent in prison.
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If you think your project is worthy of inclusion, email supporting data to derren.hayes@markallengroup.com
EXPERIENCE
WEEKLY SESSIONS ENSURE CHILDREN GET THE SUPPORT THEY NEED
Emma* and her children are among families to have benefited from support from CHAS.
Her ex-partner went to prison in 2018 charged with domestic abuse. Her four children were aged five, seven, nine and 10 at the time. “We were under child protection, but when he went to jail all the services stopped,” says Emma. “We were no longer considered at risk.”
The youngest child showed signs of distress, including bed-wetting, meltdowns and refusing to leave her mother. “I didn't know what to tell them,” recalls Emma. “My daughter thought prison was like a dungeon.”
She says her daughter was stigmatised at school: “She wasn't invited to play dates anymore.” Meanwhile, her older children became withdrawn.
In desperation, Emma searched on Google and found CHAS. CHAS director and founder Sarah Burrows visited her at home. “She went through all the questions I had,” says Emma.
The charity provided weekly mentoring sessions for the two younger children. Their mentor did activities with them, such as baking, or took them out. “It was someone outside the family to talk to, who made them feel special,” says Emma.
The children also attended CHAS group sessions every other week. Other children there had visited relatives in prison and described what it was like, putting Emma's children at ease. While children did crafts and games, parents met separately. “We talked about how best to support our children, or if we'd had a bad week,” says Emma.
CHAS also organised online therapy sessions for the younger children. Over the years they have all joined the charity for Christmas parties and residential breaks.
Emma says the charity has been “a lifeline”. “It's made the children aware that things happen, but that doesn't have to define who we are,” she says.
*Name changed
