THE PRINCESS OF WALES TO VISIT AN ‘ACTION FOR CHILDREN’ MOTHER AND BABY UNIT
Wilmslow, Cheshire
Tuesday 11th February 2025
The Princess of Wales, Patron, Action for Children, will visit a Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) inside HMP Styal on Tuesday 11th February to highlight the importance of strong, loving and consistent mother and baby relationships to a child’s development, even in the most challenging of environments.
Action for Children runs three MBUs inside prisons in the North of England, all of which provide a dedicated place for new and expectant mothers serving a prison sentence or on remand.
Prisoners live in a separate area of the prison and are supported to care for their babies by trained prison staff and early years and family support practitioners. The aim of the MBU is to establish and maintain a strong bond between mother and child, in line with evidence that a key psychological process of attachment takes place between babies and their primary caregiver in the initial months of life, which influences later development1.
To further support future positive outcomes for the child, the MBU aims to help women break the cycle of reoffending, which for all female offenders across England and Wales sits at a rate of 22.3%.
