Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

A team of 30 staff from Bright Horizons will be scaling the dizzy heights of the O2 on 15th July 2018. The team is fundraising to create two new Bright Spaces for children impacted by parental imprisonment. 

The Bright Spaces will be created at Belmarsh and Isis prisons in Thamesmead, South East London. The Bright Spaces will transform the prison visiting areas for children visiting their fathers and other male relatives, providing age-appropriate and enriching opportunities for play and learning; and encouraging positive family interactions and engagement.

The Bright Spaces will provide defined areas for children of all ages in which they can engage in role play, art, construction, reading, games and homework activities with their families. 

200,000 children are affected by parental imprisonment in England and Wales, and make nearly 10,000 prison visits each week. Sadly 65% of boys with a convicted father will go on to offend. 

Children are the unseen victims of their parents' crimes. They experience sadness at the loss of a parent, fear of what will happen to their parent in prison, social exclusion and mental health difficulties.

For children, visits to prison are stressful: often involving long journeys, a relatively short time spent with their relatives, an intimidating environment; ending with the child being separated from someone they love and care about. 

Our Bright Spaces at Belmarsh and Isis will provide child-friendly places to make the visit experience more enjoyable, encouraging more children to visit, more often. Family contact is important to offender rehabilitation; and maintaining contact whilst in prison reduces the risk of re-offending by 39% on release.

Thank you for your support!