Children with parents in custody
The Prison Service undertakes a child safeguarding enquiry with Children’s Services for all newly sentenced prisoners and will identify prisoners who present an ongoing risk to children from within custody. The Prison will decide on the level of contact, if any, they will allow between a prisoner and a child based on a child contact risk assessment and will prohibit or restrict a prisoner’s contact with a child where necessary.
The Probation Service will share information with children’s social care about supervised individuals who have contact with children or who pose a known risk and will also request information by making child safeguarding enquiries. Information exchange between probation and children’s social care helps both agencies develop a better understanding of the children and families they work with and ensure risk assessments are accurate and well informed.