ED BALLS OPENS NEW CHILDREN'S PLAY AREA IN WANDSWORTH PRISON
Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, and Vernon Coaker, Minister for Schools, joined pact and Pudsey Bear last Thursday to open the new children’s play area inside Wandsworth Prison.
The children’s play area has been re-built with generous funding from the prison and is staffed by pact’s playworkers and play volunteers.
They work hard to make visiting dad a positive experience using toys, games, arts and crafts, books, and storytelling.
View photos of the event on Flickr
Ed Balls said, "Congratulations to Wandsworth Prison, the National Offender Management Service and pact for working together to open this fabulous play area inside the prison visits hall. It’s another great example of the vital role that the voluntary sector plays in delivering services for families in our country."
"Two years ago before we published our Children’s Plan, we held a nationwide consultation with parents, teachers, professionals and children themselves. And one of the strong messages from parents and children was that they wanted more places to play safely – because play is important and it also helps a child’s development and health too. This also applies to the 160,000 children a year whose father or mother is sent to prison. We will continue working with children’s and family services to better support families of offenders."
The Ministers also took a behind-the-scenes look at the prison’s innovative 'Homework Club' where imprisoned dads help their children with their homework, promoting positive family ties and ultimately helping to reduce re-offending.
pact are launching a new publication: Listening to Prisoners’ Children: a Toolkit, produced with the support of BBC Children in Need. It is the first practical consulting tool for play practitioners who work with children in prisons.
Order a copy of Listening to Prisoners' Children for £25 plus P+P
The BBC’s Pudsey Bear made an appearance to help celebrate and welcome the children into the prison’s visits hall.
Andy Keen-Downs, Director of pact, said, “Many people will probably be very surprised at the idea of children playing inside a prison visits hall, but we know that if we can help families stay together during a prison sentence, have a positive experience of prison visits, and also help parents in prison improve their parenting skills, we can significantly reduce the risk of imprisoned parents re-offending after release.”
View photos of the event on Flickr