Personal views: The forgotten children
Authors: D H S Reid
Journal: BMJ (2000)

The term “forgotten children” could cover a wide variety of children in Britain. What I mean by the term is the children who have or have had a parent in jail.


Many people will remember the film The Railway Children, which was based on a book by Edith Nesbit (1858-1924). This told the story of a family struggling to survive in reduced circumstances after the father had been falsely imprisoned. The children were not told that their father was in prison. Their memory was of a devoted father whom they loved dearly. When the eldest child discovered that her father was in prison by reading a newspaper report she became distraught, and her evident distress upset the other two children. 


These children are disregarded and ignored by the state



The story should have alerted the caring professionals to the suffering of imprisoned parents.

But apart from my tentative work there does not seem to have been any systematic study of the subject since The Railway Children first appeared in 1906. We do not even know how many children are affected or what the effects are on the children and others.

At least 100 000 children a year in Britain have a parent in prison, and the effects are serious from the point of view of them and society. They include damaged lives, homelessness, crime, and ill health. Worst of all may be the cumulative or snowball effects on future generations.

Research is limited because of the restrictions on mentioning in the media the names of families affected. I can report the following case because it is in the public domain and illustrates the damage that can be done. Mr X and his family live in the north of Scotland. The family consists of Mr X and his 12 year old son and 7 year old daughter. Mrs X disappeared in 1998.

Mr X was sentenced to 18 months in prison in March 2000 for a minor assault on Mrs X, a month before she disappeared, after she had returned home drunk in the early hours of the morning.

The children go to school about 100 yards from their home. On the way they pass a newsagent's shop whose billboards have, for the past two or more years, proclaimed the prosecution and conviction of their father.


When I visited the town I interviewed several people. Mr Y, a business partner of Mr X, said, “Everyone says they want the best for the kids but that doesn't seem to be happening.” A neighbour reported, “I was shocked when I heard he had got 18 months. I thought he would get community service for the sake of the kids.” 




My research shows how hypocritical the mantra of “putting the children first” means in practice. Far from putting the children first, as the law demands, these children are disregarded and ignored by the state in contravention of all national and international laws affecting the rights of the child. The courts do not ask for, recognise, or consider the opinion of any child before they send the parent to jail.

This contravenes article 12 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which states, “The child shall in particular be provided with the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child.”

If children are not affected by seeing their devoted father or mother being sent to jail then surely nothing so affects them.