The Divided Households Study: Supporting children and young people with a family member in prison
This work was supported by the NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria via Dr Steph Scott (Newcastle University) who was an ARC NENC-funded Research Fellow (Inequalities and Marginalised Communities) when this project began.
The Divided Households study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) New Investigator Grant and delivered by Newcastle University.
Background to the study
It is estimated that at least one child in every UK school is affected by parental imprisonment. Less is known about the proportion of children and young people (CYP) impacted by imprisonment of a wider family member (such as siblings or grandparents).
By taking a child-centred and rights-based approach to health, this two-year project aimed to: (1) understand the long-term impact of reductions and/or changes to prison social visits on CYP’s mental health, emotional wellbeing and familial relations; and (2) explore how the lived experience of CYP can be applied to co-produce a child-centred rights-based framework for prison social visits.
Explore the project findings and recommendations
The project is now complete, and the creative co-produced outputs from the projects were launched in January 2025.
You can download the resources using the links below.
Watch the ‘Better for Everyone’ film, produced by Operating Theatre
Find out more
Find out more about the work of the partner organisations involved:
Research team
For more information, contact lead researcher Naomi Griffin: naomi.griffin@newcastle.ac.uk