A family from the travelling community has been attending Homework Club at HMP Oakwood FPC each Tuesday evening for 12 months; within the family are two boys aged 5 and 3. The elder boy would enter the centre initially quite boisterous, running in and out of the play area, around the tables where people eat, pushing his little brother around on a
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Marie Curtis: Lost but never forgotten - with loving memory
FOUNDER and DIRECTOR OF HALOW (BIRMINGHAM)
Marie Curtis was the ‘driving force’ behind HALOW (Birmingham) for 20 years from 1985 until her death in 2005. A mother of seven herself, she saw the plight of families thrown into turmoil by a jail sentence and decided to do something about it. She persuaded the City Council to let her use a small terraced house around the corner from Birmingham Prison in Winson Green that soon became a hub for support and information for prisoners’ families at a time when there was nowhere else to turn.
For 20 years she championed the cause of prisoners’ families, running a support centre and 24-hr help-line that became a Registered Charity in 1990. Five years later, in 1996, HALOW (Birmingham) took over the running of Birmingham Prison Visitors’ Centre where Marie became Coordinator and Director of the charity. She wrote a booklet ‘Serving The Second Sentence’ that helped hundreds of families cope with the trauma of separation. A forceful and passionate public speaker, Marie spoke at many conferences and national events to raise awareness of the needs of prisoners’ families. She spoke ‘from the heart;’ and from her own lived experience as a ‘lifer’s wife’.
Jane Bailey, HALOW’s current Chair said: “With Marie, the saying ‘once met, never forgotten’ would be a fitting epitaph. Not afraid to speak her mind – passionate, determined and with a huge sense of humour. She shared her personal story as a prisoner’s wife with honesty and dignity.”
HALOW (Birmingham) is the lasting legacy of Marie’s vision; she would be proud to see how the charity has grown to a major provider of services for prisoners’ families across the West Midlands.
HALOW Case Studies & News
A young mother was observed with two small children. The eldest (2 years old) was seen to be running around, letting himself out of the doors, taking toys from other children and not responding to his mothers requests. The Children’s Worker (CW) talked with the mother and found out the child had autism – she explained he struggled wit
The Staff and visitors at HMP Oakwood Family Pathway Centre rasied a total of £253 during our Macmillan cake and coffee afternoons, “thank you for your support to a good cause”. for more information visit Macmillan’s website: www.macmillan.org.uk
Over the last few weeks, the children have been creating their own tree decorations for the HMP Oakwood Family Pathway Christmas Tree. Once dressed, the FPC tree took part in a Christmas Tree Festival at a local church near to Stafford. Over 40 trees were exhibited in the church over the weekend of the 2nd to the 4th December 2016. The FPC tree was
Over the past few weeks the children have been making and personalising their own stockings to display next to the Oakwood fire place in the Family Pathway Centre, create a warm relaxing display.
One of our prisoners has a family of 4 children, two girls and two boys. The oldest boy who is 7 years old suffers from severe Autism. Before we took up our posts as children’s workers his mother told us that he would become quite anxious waiting to be called through for the visit. He would listen for his group to be called and would get anxious wa
HALOW BIRMINGHAM is grateful for support from
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