June O’Sullivan shares her work around supporting families experiencing imprisonment, and takes us through her and her team’s journey around a prison. June discusses what this journey is like from the perspective of a young child, and the fact that the child is often forgotten about in these circumstances…

We as educators need to be better equipped to support children and families who are affected by prisons, and there are many ways of doing this which June shares on this episode, and importantly, through collaboration with various organisations on the prison pack, which can be accessed here: https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/what-has-prison-got-to-do-with-early-years/

Read June’s article:

What has prison got to do with early years? - https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/what-has-prison-got-to-do-with-early-years/

Listen to more:

If you enjoyed this episode you might also like:

Starting from the child with Professor Julie Fisher - https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/starting-from-the-child/

Why children need joy with Ben Kingston-Hughes - https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/podcast/

 Episode break down:

00:00 – Why are we talking about prisons?
02:40 – Early years is highly political
04:20 – There is nothing out there to support children and families in this context
07:00 – 6 out of 10 boys are likely to follow their dads into prison…
11:10 – A day in a prison…
18:00 – When a parent goes into prison poverty increases in the family
20:00 – Connecting with the whole family
23:50 – Supporting staff as well as children and families
25:40 – Most people don’t get the complexity of working with small children…
29:00 – Changing the world 1 child at a time…
32:00 – Building a stronger voice for early years

For more episodes and articles visit The Voice of Early Childhood website: https://www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com