Together, a Chance: piloting family social workers in two women’s prisons in England, UK

Mulcahy, Jo, Wray, Becky, Parent, Katia, Rees, Alyson ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2363-4965, Waits, Charlotte ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2566-4784 and Bezeczky, Zoe 2026. Together, a Chance: piloting family social workers in two women’s prisons in England, UK. Bald, Caroline J. and Martinez Herrero, Maria Inés, eds. The Routledge International Handbook of Criminal Justice Social Work, Routledge, pp. 179-187. (10.4324/9781003717270-20)

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Abstract

In 2019, a landmark review of family ties for women in prison in England and Wales identified the need for child and family social workers to be based in women’s prisons (Farmer, 2019). It was suggested that mothers with complex family relationships would benefit from specialist support, especially when engaging with court, navigating social services involvement or when trying to negotiate child contact with carers. This concept was taken up by a third sector organisation, the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact) who secured charitable funding to employ a child and family social worker in two women’s prisons in England: HMP Eastwood Park in Gloucester and HMP Send in Surrey. The pilot was called ‘Together, a Chance’ and was evaluated by researchers at Cardiff University. This chapter considers the background to the project, learning from the evaluation and two case studies to demonstrate the value of the scheme to women in prison.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Routledge
ISBN:	978-1032731506
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2026 22:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181553

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