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Family life is undoubtedly the most important feature of any
community or society. The quality of relationships between men and
women, between parents and children, and between brothers and
sisters is perhaps the best measure of the well being of any
community. So, supporting family life, helping all those
relationships to develop is the most important thing any group or
organisation can be involved in.
This, above all, is what the Mothers’ Union exists for.
Within this overriding aim MU also has the particular task of
helping “those whose family life has met with adversity”.
Having a member of the family in prison certainly puts any family
into this category.
Maintaining good family relationships while a member of that family
is in prison is obviously particularly challenging. Part of the
process of doing this is the visiting system, whereby family members
can continue to keep in touch with offenders while their sentence is
being served. It is important that children should be involved in
these visits whenever possible. Prisons encourage this and provide
facilities for children to be included. Often there are play areas
where children can spend some of the time during the visit. These
areas need supervision, so that appropriate activities can be
enjoyed, simple craft or art work engaged in, and toys and games
played with. Prison staff themselves are not always involved in
this, so, often, voluntary groups take part. MU is fortunate to be
one such organisation.
In practice this means that on a visiting day a couple of people
representing the MU are present in the play area. They check the
equipment, put various things out ready for visitors, and keep an
eye on the children who come - maybe just one or two – sometimes
half a dozen or more. Games may be played, pictures painted, jigsaws
assembled, cars pushed around! Some children play happily on their
own while others may need individual care. They come and go and the
time flies. It really is a thoroughly enjoyable way of spending a
couple of hours, and seems to be very much appreciated. At the end
some clearing up is required, but it never takes very long. There is
even a free cup of tea provided!
At present in the Sheffield Diocese the MU helps with the play area
at Moorlands Prison (near Hatfield Woodhouse east of Doncaster). So
far six people are involved and at present run the play area on a
Wednesday afternoon – in twos – usually once every three weeks. It
has proved very popular with the children and their parents and the
prison is very keen to extend the facility to other visiting days
(every day except Monday and Friday). There is nothing frightening
or stressful in this work – those currently involved enjoy every
minute of it. So please give serious consideration to having a go –
speak to one of those already involved and join in! As you can see
one of our volunteers is a man (not even a member of MU!), so
perhaps there are people in your church or local community, even
husband and wife teams like us!! who would be willing to help.
Please spread the word by telling other people about this valuable
work and asking for their help.
The main qualification for this work is enthusiasm! The prison gives
a simple training session and a CRB check is undertaken. We are
reimbursed for our travelling expenses by bus or car, so no-one need
be out of pocket.
When Jesus was talking about those who were truly his followers, he
spoke of feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and supporting the
poor. He also mentioned visiting those in prison. That’s not easy or
straightforward – but supporting those who are visiting a family
member in prison gets us pretty close! More of us should be doing
it.
Moira & Tim Leach
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