Long-term coping in families of released prisoners: a study of individual and family resilience

The proposed research will investigate processes of resilience in families who have experienced the imprisonment of the father. Building on a unique data set from a recent longitudinal study which gathered information from prisoners, their (ex)partners and children during and after imprisonment, this study will examine individual and family-wide coping processes and experiences of social (re)integration approximately six years after the father's release from prison. In contrast to most existing research, the study will not focus only on risk factors for problematic adaptation but put particular emphasis on protective functions of family relationships and support networks in the face of multiple risks to well-being (e.g. criminal behaviour, health problems, alcohol and drug misuse, school or employment problems, and social disintegration). The data will be used in part to test and further develop a family-oriented process model of resilience that can inform social policy and the development of practice.

The following groups will benefit from the research:

1) policy-makers within national government with responsibility for the development of criminal justice and social policies (Ministry of Justice, National Offender Management Services, Department of Communities and Local Government, Department of Health, Department of Education);
2) government agencies, such as the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), Social Services and local government services working with vulnerable families;
3) third sector organisations and charities working with vulnerable families including ex-prisoners' families;
4) indirectly the children and families of former prisoners;
5) members of the research team
6) the social science research community

The research findings will strengthen the evidence base for the development of criminal justice and social policy related to the NOMS 'Reducing Reoffending - Children's and Families' Pathway', the 'Troubled Families' and similar initiatives. The findings will, for example, provide information for a better integration of the 'what works' paradigm in offender rehabilitation and the desistance approach (Lösel, 2012a). They will inform prison and probation policy on how to reduce criminal justice related hardships that prisoners' families experience and how best to support coping processes in released prisoners and their families during and after imprisonment.

The research findings will inform the practice of social services, and third sector and education organisations involved in the provision of interventions and support for vulnerable children and families. The insights into individual and family resilience that the research will generate may be used in the development of social, health and educational interventions and support services. A working relationship has already been established with a network of practitioners through the earlier study such as The Ormiston Children and Families Trust, Family Lives (formerly Action for Prisoners' and Offenders' Families), Partners of Prisoners and Families Support Group (POPS), Clinks, Barnados, Parents and Children Together (PACT), and Families Outside. We will build on these relationships established in the earlier study to maximise the impact of the project. For example, we have presented preliminary and final findings of the earlier study at various practice-oriented seminars and conferences (most recently in the House of Lords). The strengthening and extension of these networks is part of the research impact plan.

The benefits of the project will be realised in the short term through the project's communication and dissemination activities with policy makers, practitioners and prisoners families. As NOMS is a partner in the research and the co-PI is a member of the NOMS' Correctional Service Accreditation Panel (CSAP), there are opportunities to feed our findings into strategic and evidence-based planning immediately following the completion of the project. Links have also been established with the Troubled Families team at the Department for Communities and Local Government. In the longer-term, it is hoped through these activities that children and families of ex-prisoners will benefit from policies that are tailored appropriately to their situations and services that are relevant to their needs.

Staff working on the project will develop skills in project management, mixed-method research methodology (data collection, analysis, writing up) communication, presentation and administration. These skills will be transferable to a range of employment sectors.

The wider research social science research community in the UK will benefit from access to a multi-informant dataset that will be deposited with the UK Data Service comprising qualitative and qualitative data on prisoner family experiences.