Castle Gate Family Trust - helping to keep up family ties

  

Support for the children 

A father was sentenced to 8 years in prison. He had 4 children of various ages, they attended different schools.

The mother was struggling to tell the children what had happened, and was also fearful of losing her home as her husband was the main breadwinner. The mother was worried about her children being bullied at school and felt she had nowhere to turn.

The father was sent to a prison far away from the family home. The Children and Young People's Support Worker was able to meet with mum on a number of occasions to help prioritise her concerns. She arranged to meet with the various schools, with the mothers consent, and ensure the school teachers were aware of the change of circumstances at home.

The Support Worker gave the mother information on ‘How to tell the children’ and helped the mother with approaching the subject with the children separately. This information was also given to the father in prison so that he could provide support to his wife over the phone or in letter contact or visits. The Support Worker put the mother in contact with a Benefits Officer, who was able to help her with her financial concerns.

The Support Worker also gave the mother information on the ‘Assisted Prison Visits Scheme’, which enables family members to claim back travelling expenses when visiting a family member in prison.

The children were all given support in school, where they wrote letters to dad and made memory boxes with the Support Worker. Before they visited the prison for the first time, they were prepared for what to expect and they completed work books with the Support Worker. 

  

Support in court

The Castle Gate court support worker approached a mother and father in Crown Court after their son had been given a custodial sentence of 21 months. Initially they needed the information that most prisoners' families ask for, ‘where is he going to and how do we visit?’.

The Court Support Worker was able to get their son to sign a disclaimer agreeing for Castle Gate Family Trust to share his information with his family, the information was then passed to his family later that day. The Court Support Worker also referred him to the CARAT team for help with alcohol misuse. 

A few weeks later, his parents were back in touch with Castle Gate Family Trust. They had some concerns over their son’s wellbeing, his alcohol misuse and why he might have committed the crime. The Court Support Worker was able to contact the Offender Supervisor in his case and was able to attend a meeting with the Offender Supervisor and the prisoner. From there she was able to pass on relevant information back to his parents. This was done in a meeting at the prison visitors centre. During this meeting his parents disclosed some information that could influence their son’s behaviour and recovery, they suggested that he may need guidance and /or counselling for the matters discussed.

This information was passed back to the prison and steps were made to ensure that help was offered and implemented. The defendant was pleased to take up all the opportunities suggested.”