David was sentenced to two years in prison, leaving behind his 3 year old daughter Maisy. Before going to prison, David had played an active role in Maisy’s life; he loved taking her to play group and watching her laugh and play with her friends. He really enjoyed being a Dad, but he was worried that now he was in prison he would no longer be able to be in Maisy’s life.

In the first few weeks that David was in custody, social services got in touch with Emma, a Pact Family Engagement Worker in the prison, and asked what she could do to support David in maintaining his relationship with Maisy. Emma reached out to David and told him about Pact’s parenting courses and asked if he would like to get involved. The thing David missed the most was reading bedtime stories with Maisy, so he decided to get involved with Pact’s Family Literacy in Prisons (FLiP) project.

As part of the FLiP course, David attended a two day workshop where he learned more about Maisy’s early development, literacy and learning. The following week he attended the FLiP Family Day, a special visit where he was able to spend time with Maisy and put into practice all of the new skills he had learned. They made puppets, told each other stories and he helped Maisy to write some of the letters of her name. He was overjoyed to be able to spend some quality time with his daughter.

Afterwards, David spoke with Emma and asked to get involved with more Pact family days so he could spend more time building his relationship with Maisy. He also asked Emma to contact the social services to let them know how much he enjoyed the course and to arrange for him to go on another parenting course when he is released.