2. 6 scenarios
Scenario 3: Coping with reality
Read the situation below and choose the best response.
Rita comes into the Children's centre where you work. She is with her three-year-old and is very distressed as her partner has just been sent to prison for five years for a serious assault. She had no idea he would get so long, is worried about money, the lease on their flat is in his name and she doesn't even know where he has been taken or how to get in touch. Do you:
- Warn Rita about how difficult it is to keep in touch during such a long sentence, particularly when he can be moved around the country and it might not be in her son's interests to try?
- Try and find information for Rita to take away. This includes materials on finance, visits and explaining what is happening to children. You might also give her the phone number for the National Prisoners' Families Helpline?
- Contact the local prison to see if he is there, find out about visits and offer to accompany Rita and her son on the first visit?