What to expect in the Living with Mum program
If your child is allowed to live with you in prison, you are responsible for their safety and care. This comes from section 31 of the Corrections Act 1986 (Vic).
Commissioner’s Requirement 3.4.1 has lots of information about what to expect if you are approved for the LWM Program. Below is some of the most important information.
Accommodation
Parents and children in the LWM Program must not live in cells unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Corrections Victoria website says parents and children in the Program live in cottage-style units with their own kitchen, living area, bedrooms and bathroom.
Money
Parents in the LWM Program are eligible for Centrelink Parenting Support and pay for day-to-day costs of care for the child, including baby formula, food, and services in the community like playgroup, kindergarten or childcare.
Your prison will provide things like a cot, mattress, baby bath, pram, chest of drawers, breast pump, change table and highchair. You can ask the General Manager for special permission to borrow other important items, or be given additional linen, clothes and toys from people in the community.
Healthcare for parents
The health service provider at your prison is responsible for giving you healthcare during your pregnancy and after childbirth. This healthcare should be the same standard as what you would get in the community.
If healthcare can’t be provided at the prison, you must have access to obstetric, midwifery, ante-natal and post-natal support services in the community. This includes for parents who have had a miscarriage or abortion.
Commissioner’s Requirement 3.4.1 says the health-service provider at your prison is also responsible for:
- Building responsiveness to substance abuse and mental health treatment needs into the provision of ante and post-natal services
- Delivering services that are responsive to cultural differences
- Monitoring and support for women assessed as being at risk of post-natal depression
- Timely access to professional counselling for pregnant and post-natal women, including women who have recently experienced a miscarriage or abortion
- Making sure breastfeeding parents are provided with appropriate support and equipment
Opioid Substitution Therapy program (OST) while on the LWM Program
You can receive OST (like Methadone or Suboxone) while in the LWM Program. If you are already on it at the time you enter the Program, it will be mandatory for you to continue.
Healthcare for children
Maternal and Child Health Nurses should attend the prison regularly to keep track of how children in the Program are progressing and to support parents. Other medical appointments for children will usually be outside the prison, and parents can ask for permission to go to appointments with them.
If your child has to go to hospital, you must be allowed to go with them unless there are exceptional circumstances. If your child has to be admitted in hospital, the prison must arrange for you to have regular hospital visits with them, and if possible for you to be present when your child is discharged.
Work, education and programs
If you are in the LWM Program you must have full access to all education, work and programs available at your prison. Options to help you participate includes having your child with you, or leaving your child with a nominated caregiver in prison or in the community who can come and collect them.
Keeping in contact with family and the community
The prison must allow for your child to stay in contact and spend time with family and other significant people in their lives outside the prison. You can apply for a Custodial Community Permit to go places with your child outside the prison for medical or social reasons. For more information on applying for Custodial Community Permits, click here.
Nominating another caregiver
Every child in the LWM Program must have an alternative caregiver (someone else to look after the child), either inside or outside the prison. If you don’t have anyone you can nominate, the prison can arrange foster carers. Anyone you nominate will be assessed by Corrections Victoria about whether they are suitable.
Lockdowns
During emergency lockdowns, your child must be allowed to regularly spend time outside your accommodation if it is safe. If it is not safe for your child to be able to go outside your accommodation, your child will be put in the care of your nominated external caregiver. If you refuse to let your child go, your placement in the LWM Program could be reviewed.
Important: physical intervention to remove your child from your care can only be used:
- With approval of the General Manager; and
- If all other options, like negotiation and conflict resolution, have failed.
Monitoring and review
The LWM Operational Steering Committee will do a monthly assessment about how you and your child are progressing.
The Case Management Review Committee will also regularly reviews your child’s placement in prison.
Your participation in the Program could also be reviewed by the Operational Steering Commitee or Deputy Commissioner if you:
- You are found to have concealed drugs or contraband
- You return a positive urine test
- Your circumstances change (like if you become sick or are transferred to high security)
- You have a disciplinary hearing
For information on what you can do if you’re asked to leave the Living with Mum program, see the link on the left side of this page.