If a woman wishes to make an application to have her child placed with her in prison she must be referred to the social worker.
The social worker will conduct a suitability assessment on the mother and child and provide advice via a written report to the prison director. A number of meetings with the mother may be required for a quality assessment to be undertaken.
Written assessment report
The report should determine whether there are any care and protection issues associated with the mother that need to be addressed. It should also address any issues the mother may have regarding the birth of her child and discuss what needs to occur before the child reaches twenty-four months of age and leaves the unit to live with an alternative caregiver.
The social worker will need to consult with other Corrections staff and external agencies (such as the statutory child protection agency and the Ministry of Justice) to complete the assessment. The assessment should cover at least the following aspects:
Whether there are any court orders in place, or pending, relating to the child.
Details of discussions with the mother about her motivations to have her child with her in prison.
Summary of the mother’s offence and sentence / remand details including earliest release date.
Assessment of the mother’s needs, including her response to imprisonment, rehabilitation and reintegration needs.
A detailed history of the mother’s physical and mental health and its affect, if any, on her abilities to care for her child. If the mother does have physical or mental health needs which affect her ability to care for her child, the support she would require to effectively care for her child should be detailed for consideration.
Assessment of the health needs of the child, and if the child requires frequent medical care how that could be provided for in the prison environment.
Detailed inquiries and assessment of the child’s current placement (if applicable) and available alternative caregivers. The inquiries should consider the day-to-day care of the child, indicating whether the mother has legal custody of the child and any access rights of other parties.
Any contact the child and the women have had with the statutory child protection agency, or other relevant agency.
An assessment of the suitability of the person(s) or agency nominated by the mother to care for the child in the event that she is unable to continue to care for the child in prison or when the child reached 24 month of age.
Information from whānau or other support people as identified by the mother, including but not limited to, their views on the application to have the child reside in prison and how they can support the mother and child.
Care and protection issues
If care and protection issues associated with the mother have been identified, this should be outlined in the report to the prison director, and notification should be made by the social worker to the statutory child protection agency.
Use of the feeding and bonding facility should be considered if care and protection issues have been identified, with placement to be reviewed once the statutory child protection agency have informed the prison of their decision regarding the notification of care and protection issues.
The social worker and prison director will be informed in writing by the statutory child protection agency of their decision regarding the notification of care and protection issues.
Should the statutory child protection agency decide that there is care and protection issues, the mother should have use of the feeding and bonding facility if appropriate until the statutory child protection agency has made a decision about the placement of her child (this could involve the statutory child protection agency removing the child from its current situation).
Should the statutory child protection agency decide that there is no care and protection issues associated with the mother, the prison director may approve the mother with child placement until the child has reached twenty-four months of age, provided she meets all the other entry criteria.
Assessment process
Whether the child is place in prison with its mother is the decision of the prison director.
The social worker will ensure that the mother is informed of the outcome and provide appropriate support or guidance where necessary.
A copy of the social worker’s report to the prison director will be placed on the mother’s file once completed and signed off.
The social worker and case officer must be kept informed throughout the assessment process.
