This research explores the needs of women in the UK prison system who are also mothers, focusing on the potential of service and co-design methods to improve parenting education and support. Despite evidence that parental imprisonment is a significant risk factor for negative long-term outcomes in children, there is limited understanding of how best to deliver effective parenting services for this group.

When people hear ‘co-design,’ they sometimes picture a friendly workshop and a wall of sticky notes. That can be part of it, but co-design is more specific, it’s a structured way of making decisions about services with the people who use and run them. The promise is better ideas grounded in real experience. The challenge is that group dynamics can quietly distort what the group ‘decides,’ which is why how we facilitate co-design matters as much as who is in the room.