Work to change lives and reduce crime in Folkestone impresses High Sheriff

On Tuesday, she met with Kent Probation and St Giles Trust staff at the Children and Families Enterprise Project in Folkestone. Kent Probation with KCC co-commission the project to give offenders practical support around issues such as housing needs, debt, substance misuse problems and parenting.

Since its beginning in 2005, the project has helped over 500 vulnerable families and reduced the risk of offender’s children getting into trouble with the law in the future, by improving the family situation.

The Children and Families Enterprise Project has won a number of national awards for its work to reduce re-offending. The re-offending rate on the project is less than 10% compared to a national average of 36.4%.

Mrs Warner also met with service users to find out how the Children and Families Enterprise Project has changed their situations and addressed the reasons for their previous offending.

Kent Probation’s Commissioning Manager, Howard Cohn who helped to set up the Children and Families Enterprise Project with St Giles Trust, said:” We are pleased to be able to offer this pioneering work with Charity St Giles Trust. Children can often suffer the most when a parent or family member is involved in the criminal justice system, and this project not only helps to improve the home situation but also helps to prevent further offending.”

The High Sheriff’s next stop was the South East Probation Office in Folkestone where she met with Probation staff and told about the different elements of a community sentence that aim to break the cycle of offending, these include probation supervision, drugs and alcohol treatment, Community Payback and electronic tags. The South East Probation Office supervises around 700 offenders at anyone time on community orders or licences.

The High Sheriff of Kent, Mrs Warner, said: “When I read about community sentences, I often thought they were a soft option but not at all. I've certainly changed my mind in my meeting with Probation and by seeing projects such as these that turn offender’s lives around and stops them committing crimes.”