Date: April 28, 2019
01) Heartbreaking poems reveal pain of children with parents in prison
“A heartbreaking set of published poems reveal the strain on children of having a parent behind bars.
The collection titled ‘Seen & Heard’, comprises 100 poems and a series of drawings, created by children and parents from across the UK and beyond whose lives have been impacted by imprisonment.
Contributing “poets” include a 13-year-old boy with both parents in jail, a 5-year-old girl who “misses her mum”, and “children” who have since grown up but remain profoundly affected by losing a parent to a cell.
There is minimal data about children affected by parental imprisonment and these vulnerable young people are paid too little attention. Their voices are so often muted, missing or silenced,” the book’s editor Lucy Baldwin told The Standard.
“I realised it was time to hear the raw voices of the children and parents whose lives are being torn apart.”
…
An estimated 312,000 children are affected by imprisonment annually, 17,000 of whom are separated from their mothers, often for sentences of less than six months.
Only five per cent of children remain in their own home, with many displaced to be cared for by local authorities.
“When parents are sentenced, so are the children,” said Ms Baldwin.”
You must read this.
