Asylum support for children and young people living in Kirklees : stories of mothers

Executive Summary The report is based on a one-year pilot study by academic practitioners at WomenCentre, Kirklees, funded by the Nationwide Children’s Research Centre. This study has taken a localised approach to the Parliamentary Inquiry (2013) into asylum support for children and young people. We have placed the views of mothers of children who live or have lived in receipt of asylum support in Kirklees at the heart of the study. All of the mothers interviewed said that asylum support (accommodation and/or financial subsistence) was or had been their only means of survival and many of them have spent several years in receipt of asylum support with their children. Using the themes that arose in the ‘Parliamentary Inquiry into asylum support for children and young people (2013)’, we have examined the mothers’ accounts of asylum support in relation to children and young people living in Kirklees. Consistent with the Parliamentary Inquiry and central to the analysis, a number of areas of concern were raised by the mothers: ‘essential living needs’, ‘home-life’, ‘education’ and ‘societal attitudes’. A further theme emerged around ‘children’s resilience’. As part of this report we have presented the recommendations put forward by the mothers: • Families seeking asylum should be given the right to work. • Section 4 support should be abolished and a cash-based support system introduced for all children, young people and their families. • Families should have a choice about where they live. • The best interests of the child should be central to decision affecting children.<br/

Resettlement : lessons from the literature update March 2016

This review is the most recent in a series of regular updates intended to outline the latest lessons from research, policy and practice in the resettlement of young people. It provides an overview of relevant publications and developments since Beyond Youth Custody’s last update in October 2015. This review: Considers trends in the general prison population and looks at how trends in the child custodial population continue to change over time, examining possible reasons for this. It then takes a closer look at the changing demographics of the child custodial population, including growing ethnic disproportionality and variances in the speed of decline in imprisonment for different age groups of young people. Summarises findings of several recently released publications including HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Youth Justice Board’s joint report on young people’s perceptions of experiences in custody, T2A’s report into meeting the needs of young women in prison, a study into identifying and supporting traumatised young people in custody and an article on the parenting and custodial experiences of young offender fathers. Includes a particular focus on interim findings from the current Taylor Review of youth justice, drawing out some of the implications for resettlement of children. It also summarises recent commentary in youth justice and provides an analysis of the government’s current prison reform programme, including the ‘prison building revolution’ and changes to women’s custodial estate

“Lockdown's changed everything” : mothering adult children in prison in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic occurred at a time when families of prisoners were gaining visibility in both academia and policy. Research exploring the experiences of families of prison residents has tended to focus on intimate partners and children, despite parents of those in prison being more likely than partners or children to maintain contact (Murray, 2003). The small body of work focusing on parents has identified their continued care for their children and highlights the burden of providing this care. With the ‘ethics of care’ posing an ideological expectation on women to provide familial care (Souza, Lanskey, Markson & Losel, 2020), the ‘care’ for adult children in custody is likely to fall to mothers. However, with restricted prison regimes, the pandemic has significantly impeded mothers’ ability to provide this ‘care’. Adopting a qualitative methodology, this paper explores the accounts of mothers to adult children in custody during the pandemic across two UK prison systems, England and Wales, and Scotland; exploring the negotiation of mothering in the context of imprisonment and the pandemic and highlighting important lessons for policy and practice

Resettlement of young people leaving custody : lessons from the literature update July 2015

This review is the most recent in a series of regular updates intended to outline the latest lessons from research, policy and practice in the resettlement of young people. It provides an overview of relevant publications and developments since Beyond Youth Custody’s last update in March 2015. This review: - outlines recent trends in youth imprisonment, presents the trajectories for different age groups of children and young adults, highlights gender differences in the rate of decline in the youth population and considers the implications of these trends for resettlement services and practitioners. - considers the findings of recently published research including a study on the psychological impact of exposure to suicide or attempted suicide among prisoners aged 16-21, an American study into sexual abuse as a criminogenic factor for girls entering custody and outcomes of art-based therapy in high security custodial settings. - draws attention to the current focus on safety in custodial institutions, summarising the findings of two recently published reports: the HM Inspectorate of Prisons Annual Report 14/15 and the Harris Review into self-inflicted deaths of 18-24 year olds in custody

The ties that bind : stories of women in prison who are mothers to older adult children

Focussing on the individual stories of mothers in prison and those who have recently been released from prison, within this chapter, I consider the way in which women story motherhood in relation to older adult children. Presenting three interrelated narratives, ‘Mothering from a distance: stories of missing out on children's transitions to adulthood’; ‘“Motherwork”: stories of participating in mothering adult children’ and ‘“Role reversal”: stories of receiving support from adult children’, I consider the specific challenges and opportunities for mothers in prison with older adult children

Resettlement of young people leaving custody : lessons from the literature update October 2015

This review is the most recent in a series of regular updates intended to outline the latest lessons from research, policy and practice in the resettlement of young people. It provides an overview of relevant publications and developments since Beyond Youth Custody’s last update in July 2015. This review: - considers custody population trends for children and young adults, noting different trends in imprisonment relating to gender and ethnicity. The implications and challenges of such trends for resettlement of children and young people are considered. - explores recent developments in the custodial estate such as: increased violence within establishments, the introduction of 30 hours of mandatory education a week for those under 18, and the announcement of the review into the youth justice system. - summarises findings of several recently published research studies that highlight the particular vulnerabilities and safety of young people in custody. This includes research that explores pathways to suicide attempts among male prisoners, and a study that looks at how children develop coping strategies to survive the adversities of prison

The role of the family in resettlement

This practitioner’s guide unpicks different interpretations of ‘family’. It explores the family’s unique position to fulfil key characteristics that research has shown are associated with effective resettlement support. It highlights recommendations and considerations that can be adopted into the practices of those working with young people and their families. As well as outlining various ways that families can help with personal and structural support, the guide also provides tips for successfully engaging with family members and sets out ways of overcoming the challenges that exist to unlocking this important resource

Rethinking stories of transnational mothering in the context of international study

Women’s migration has facilitated diverse understandings of both mothering and motherhood. Despite this, transnational mothering tends to be understood in narrowly defined terms, largely associated with economic necessity, with alternative motivations for women’s migration and transnational mothering largely absent from existing literature. This research aims to contribute to literature about transnational mothering by drawing on research with mothers in the context of postgraduate international study to explore the different ways in which mothers reproduce, negotiate, contest and diversify narratives of ‘good mothering’. We also bring greater visibility to stories of transnational mothers and illuminate the other interests and aspirations that transnational mothers evoke with regards to their migration. We argue that rethinking stories of transnational mothering allows us to hear about and to value a diversity of mothers’ lives, so these mothers do not have to inhabit the margins and periphery of stories of either motherhood or international student life