OPEN Rapid Case Study: Tarrengower Prison Family Video Visits Pilot Program – VACRO

Most of the mothers in prison and their families face challenges maintaining strong family relationships and meeting individuals’ emotional and psychological needs. Prison visits provide an opportunity for connection, but the environment can be difficult and the prison location far from families. The Family Video Visit Pilot Program addressed the environmental barriers that prevented family members from visiting prisons, including issues such as the geographic distance, financial strain, and inflexible visit times. The program enabled a kind of connection that telephone calls and contact visits at the prison could not provide. It provided the chance for mothers in prison to see and to be integrated into their children’s everyday lives at home. Meanwhile, the children could also engage with their mothers from a safe, comfortable place at a suitable time.

“He cannot wait to see his mum! Thank you, truly, for making it possible for him to see his mum, it has helped him a lot.” – Quote from a family member

• Foregrounding identity as a parent works — Recognising the women first as mothers, rather than prisoners, contributes to building their sense of self-belief; and is vital to strengthening the mother-child relationship and successful reintegration after prison.
  
• Focus on building parents’ capability works — In general, incarcerated parents have limited opportunities to demonstrate their capacity to parent effectively. Parents valued a safe, non-judgemental space to set their own goals and build their parenting capability in a meaningful way.
  
• Digital modes are a value add — We learnt that digital support can improve the parenting experience by providing alternative contact to face-to-face visits. Parents did different types of parenting to that in the challenging and public space of prison visit centres: intimate discussions on bullying or discipline and joyful bonding in seeing their children connect with pets, new toys, or watching dance routines.
  
• Delivering programs for children using adult-centric approaches does not work — Video visits fail to achieve their potential if they are not highly sensitive to the circumstances of the children involved. The needs and perspectives of children are often overlooked by the adult-centric operations of the justice system. Instead, a family-centric approach is required in which arrangements reflect the needs and wants of children, carers and mothers.
  
• Using digital modes without technical support and capability building does not work — Families can lack the technological aptitude to successfully set up and conduct digital visits independently. Motivation from the family worker also encourages families to be more engaged and to establish and maintain these visits.
  
• Family support from within the correctional system is insufficient — The wellbeing of prisoners’ families falls outside the ‘core business’ of the correctional system. These families understand this and can find it difficult to trust and collaborate with workers employed within the system. In this context, family support workers employed by community-sector agencies like VACRO can have more success in gaining the trust and rapport necessary for this work to succeed.