Who Are We?
Families Outside is the only national charity in Scotland that works solely to support the families of people involved in the criminal justice system. We work to mitigate the effects of imprisonment on children and families – and consequently to reduce the likelihood of reoffending – through support and information for families and for the people who work with them.
Why Are We Here?
Imprisonment can be a traumatic experience for families, and its impact is often significant and enduring. This can include:
- Risk to housing;
- Financial pressures;
- Problems in caring for children and the impact on the 27,000 children who lose a parent to imprisonment each year;
- Anxiety, distress and health problems;
- Rejection, stigma, and victimisation by neighbours and the community.
Families affected by imprisonment face a process of grief and readjustment throughout the course of arrest, trial, imprisonment and release. They often have difficulty getting the information and support they need to make them feel in control during periods of crisis and stress.
How are we funded?
Families Outside receives its funding from a number of different sources. These include Government, trusts, research income, general donations and conference fees. Recent years have seen a move away from heavy reliance on Government funding towards support from private charitable trusts. However, although this is a healthy development, Families Outside still remains reliant on financial support from the Government in order to achieve its organisational objectives.
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Families Outside Strategic Plan
A copy of Families Outside’s strategic and business plan is now available to download. Please click here to view the document.
Families Outside Team
Dr Nancy Loucks
Chief Executive
Elaine Stalker
Deputy Chief Executive,
Regional Coordinator (Glasgow/Fife & Forth Valley), Helpline Worker
Jonathan Goodfellow
Executive Officer
Fiona Allan
Support & Development Coordinator,
Regional Coordinator (Lothian & Borders/Lanarkshire), Helpline Worker
Susan Cross
Regional Support Coordinator (North Strathclyde/Southwest Scotland)
Tracey Burns
Family Support Coordinator (Routes Out Of Prison)
Kerry Knox
Family Support Worker (Lothian & Borders/Fife & Forth Valley)
Hazel Anderson
Family Support Worker (Lothian & Borders)
Charlene Kenny
Regional Support Coordinator (Tayside/Northern)
Michelle Martin
Helpline & Information Administrator
Sarah Roberts
Schools & Education Consultant
Dimitra Perrou
Volunteer Coordinator (seconded from the Scottish Prison Service)
Janet Pringle
Addiewell Visitors’ Centre Manager
Steph Clark
Addiewell Visitors’ Centre Worker
Families Outside Board of Trustees
Gillian Stewart, CB
Chairman of Families Outside, ex-civil servant highly experienced in charitable Boards, especially those working with vulnerable children (e.g. Barnardo’s and Action for Children).
Donald Millar
Vice-Chairman, recently retired Assistant Criminal Justice Manager (Social Work) at Edinburgh City Council.
Jennifer Stevenson
Treasurer and qualified chartered accountant.
Valerie MacNiven
Retired civil servant, previously with the Scottish Government, Criminal Justice Directorate.
Colin McConnell
Scottish Prison Service’s Chief Executive with an extensive background in the prison service.
Paul Carberry
Operational Director of Children’s Services with Action for Children, able to advise on a number of issues including the child aspect of families affected by imprisonment.
Marjory Russell, OBE
Member of the Joint Faiths Advisory Board for Criminal Justice.
Janice McGowan
Family member.
Glen Gilson
Partner is a solicitor firm with expertise in private client law as well as a background in charity law.
Sheila Gupta
Director of Human Resources for the University of Edinburgh.
Fiona Punton
Information Officer for the Church of Scotland.
We also have two observers to the Board of Trustees:
Kevin Gallagher – Scottish Prison Service.
Jane Askew – represents the Scottish Government Criminal Justice Division.
Hear the voices of families affected by imprisonment
Conference 2009 – Step By Step
These audio files contain the voices of three family members voices telling of their experience during arrest, court and release & resettlement.
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High Quality Arrest | 1.6Mb
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High Quality Court | 2.0Mb
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High Quality Release & Resettlement | 1.8Mb
Conference 2006 – Playing Our Part
This audio file contains reflections on the experience of having a substance misusing member of the family go to prison.
- Low Quality playing_our_part_24kbps_m.mp3 | 4.1Mb
- High Quality playing_our_part_64kbps_s.mp3 | 10.9Mb
To read each of the family members’ words, please download the Adobe pdf transcript.
Conference 2004 – Adjusting, adjusting, readjusting
This audio file contains the voices of families talking about their journey through the experience of having relative in prison.
- Low Quality journey_24kbps_m.mp3 | 0.4Mb
- High Quality journey_64kbps_s.mp3 | 1.2Mb
Click one of the links to play the audio file, or you can right-click and select ‘Save Target As…’ to download to your computer.
Comments and concerns
Families Outside acknowledges that you may have a comment or concern about the
work we carry out. The comment or concern may be about:
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a decision made by Families Outside;
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services provided by Families Outside;
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conduct of representatives of Families Outside.
If you are unhappy about any aspect of our work, please bring this to our attention by post, email or telephone 0131 557 9800.
We will try to resolve the matter informally within 3 working days. If this is not possible we will inform you of the reason for this and advise that you are welcome to take matters further. A full copy of our formal complaints procedure is available upon request.