Children of mothers who were imprisoned benefit from Better Start intervention

Mothers who served a prison sentence can help prevent their children from becoming delinquents by taking part in Better Start. This parent intervention aims to prevent that children of these mothers go on to exhibit antisocial behaviour, such as committing offences. Ankie Menting , developmental psychologist at Utrecht University, and Bram Orobio de Castro, Professor of Child and Youth Care Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, have researched the long-term effects of the intervention. Menting: "The effects on delinquency we observed in both children and mothers show that the Better Start does indeed contribute to breaking the vicious cycle of intergenerational delinquency." It has long been known that children of a parent who served a prison sentence have an increased risk of developing antisocial behavioural problems. To break this intergenerational cycle, mothers take part in the Better Start intervention around the end of their prison sentence. Previous research found evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention, which is offered by the Ministry of Justice and Security to help families in this difficult period. But now it has also been established for the first time that the intervention has beneficial effects in the long term.