Yorkshire prison calls in NCH to manage mother and baby unit

The charity has been asked to temporarily manage the mother and baby unit and creche facility at HMP New Hall in Wakefield, after becoming renowned for its work at a Cheshire prison.

NCH was the first charity in the UK to manage a prison mother and baby unit when it took over the facility at HMP Styal prison in Cheshire, where it pioneered a less punitive approach to running the service.

The unit in Wakefield is to offer a similar range of services to HMP Styal, including parenting programmes, breastfeeding classes and training opportunities for the mothers.

Staff are trained to help mothers prepare for being released or being separated from their child and aim to link them with other useful voluntary and public sector services. Both prisons cater for adults and young offenders. All pregnant inmates and those with young babies are eligible to apply for places.

Karen Moorcroft, NCH project manager at HMP Styal, said: "We offer a holistic app-roach to meeting mother and baby's needs. Because we're not prison staff it works. The mums call us by our first names and say we are like an extended family."

Steve Hall, governor of HMP Styal, whose idea it was to invite a charity to run the unit, said NCH has helped improve outcomes for the women and children who use the service.

"The unit is of huge importance in the development of the children during the time they spend with their mothers, and is of great value to the relationship between mother and baby," he said. "Working with organisations that reach beyond the prison into the community offers opportunities to positively influence the resettlement of women on their release."

The permanent contract for the mother and baby unit and creche service at HMP New Hall is out for tender. NCH, which rebrands as Action for Children from September, has applied for the contract.