Behavioural support worker
I mainly work in schools. I support children of school age who are having all sorts of problems at school. This includes children of prisoners.
Often the first the school knows about a parent in prison is when a child starts behaving differently and after some digging round it is revealed that mum or dad have gone to prison.
It would be really helpful if the police or social services could inform me of an arrest/prison sentence but it is the choice of the carer whether the school or I get to know. Some schools do not like to acknowledge that some of their pupils have a parent in prison, because it's bad for the image but I am lucky to work in a school where the head teacher is open and receptive to realities of the situation for these children.
The problem is that in some cases if a child's behaviour becomes so bad they are excluded, and no one knows the reason why, they can't support them.
I can support a child throughout the pathway if I am made aware of the issues. A child does not have to be working with a social worker to have support from me.