In 2010 Bolton Sure Start Children’s Centres and Bolton Council commissioned POPS to conduct a mapping exercise to establish the location of offenders and their families throughout Bolton and consider the services available to them in the locality. The report also explored the issues facing offenders’ families and the barriers they confront in accessing services appropriate to their needs.
The aim of the mapping exercise was to use the resultant findings to develop a series of recommendations that Bolton Sure Start Children’s Centres and Bolton Council would use to underpin and evidence the development of a plan of action that could demonstrate it met the needs of its residents, considered local, regional, national policy and research and reflected any good practice or learning that had taken place before.
The report strongly recommends the need for an improved Communication Strategy at both a grassroots and regional level and highlights the importance of training staff across both the Criminal Justice System and agencies who have contact with children and families. It is also recommended that timely and accurate information is made available to staff and offenders’ families and that knowledge and experience is cascaded through existing services. It summarised that in developing the confidence of current front-line providers, better service promotion would result and consideration could then be given to the creation of tailored services as directed by the families themselves.
Incorporated into the report are targeted resources to assist providers in better supporting children and families of offenders. These include a quick reference directory guiding them to recommended services, developed in accordance with the National Reducing Re-offending Delivery Plan, and a basic guide to the Criminal Justice Service to bring workers up to date with current process.
Download Bolton Children of Offenders Mapping Exercise 2010
In 2008 POPS conducted similar mapping exercises for both Salford Council and Oldham Council.