Eva's story

Spurgeons is the best thing about the prison system. Trying to get a normal social visit is impossible - but they made it possible. Without them, my kids wouldn't have had any relationship with their dad.

When Eva's dad went to prison, she and her family didn't know where he had been taken to. It took them over 6 weeks to find out where he was. 'The children did not really get to see him for the first two months of his sentence,' says Eva's mum.

'It was really different without my dad being there,' says Eva. 'I know what was going on. I just... I didn't really know how to react to it.'

Eva's dad was sent to prison when Eva was just 10. It was a sudden absence in the routine of her everyday life. 'I'd walk out of my room into the front room, and I wouldn't see my dad there. It was a bit weird,' she says.

She says she talked a bit to her Nan and Granddad, but not too much to anyone else. 'I did really miss him, but I didn't really think about it too much because I didn't know what was going to happen if I did.'

After the initial 2 months passed, family visits were arranged by Spurgeons.

'My brothers are normally fighting in the car while we were driving there and I had to sit in the middle of it,' says Eva. 'I did feel excited to see my dad for the first time since he got out, but I was also nervous because I didn't really know what was going on.'

Visits to the prison are daunting for children. 'We had to give our birth certificates and IDs, then we had to walk through a metal detector and get patted down. One time there were dogs,' recalled Eva. 

The family days offer the children glimpses of normality. Asked what made her happy while her dad was in prison, she answers simply: 'Being able to see my dad again.'

Eva's mum remembers how hard the whole process was for the children: 'My kids constantly talked about it - "today might be the day," "it might not be the day." I told them so many times to prepare for it and then - it didn't happen. After about ten times, you kind of stop believing it.'

'They had loads of questions. They just asked where he was - and I couldn't even answer. They wanted to if he was safe, if he was being looked after. My youngest son is severely autistic, so it was very hard to explain top him what was going on. Everything around them just felt like it had gone. It was horrible. Holidays, birthdays, all of it - horrible.'

'Spurgeons is the best thing about the prison system. Trying to get a normal social visit is impossible - but they made it possible. Without them, my kids wouldn't have had any relationship with their dad. With them, it felt like family. It felt like hope.'