A three year project funded by Big Lottery Wales to evaluate the Visiting Mum’s project facilitated by the Prison Advice and Care Trust which helps children from South Wales to keep in touch with their mothers at HMP Eastwood Park.

Overview

The project objectives were:

  • The children of Welsh mothers imprisoned at HMP Eastwood Park experience improved mental and physical well-being through involvement in the project.
  • There is increased community safety as a result of reduced re-offending by mothers taking part in the programme.
  • Imprisoned mothers experience less anxiety about issues relating to children and families, leading to fewer incidents of self-harm.
  • Learning from the project leads to improved policy and practice at both local authority Welsh Government and UK Government level.

CASCADE will assessed the extent to which the above objectives are achieved taking in to account the impact of the project on mothers, children and the prison as well as the wider social context in South Wales such as schools and social services.

Findings

Related Article

Rees, A.et al. 2020. Visiting mum: children’s perspectives on a supported scheme when visiting their mother in prison.  Child Care in Practice

Watch the film on our YouTube Channel.

For further information about this project please contact Dr Alyson Rees

For further information about CASCADE please contact cascade@cardiff.ac.uk


Academic Staff

ResearcherDr Alyson Rees
ResearcherDr Eleanor Staples
ResearcherDr Nina Maxwell
Related publicationsRees, A., Staples, E. and Maxwell, N. 2017. Evaluation of Visiting Mum Scheme: Final Report June 2017. Cardiff: CASCADE.