The Church of Scotland is due to launch a new social care project later in the week for families with members in prison for four years or more.
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Tayside Families Support Service is run by CrossReach, the social care arm of the Church of Scotland, and will be opened by Scotland’s Chief Inspector of Prisons Dr Andrew McLellan.

The care initiative will offer support to families of long-term prisoners in the Dundee, Perthshire and Angus regions of Scotland and is already showing positive results.

Project manager Sue Marshall said: “Our aim is to help people cope through the period of time that someone is in prison. There are many ways we can do that – from being a good listening ear, to helping families access services they need or acting as an advocate for them.”

Ms Marshall expressed the hope to establish firm relationships with local schools and health centres to “explore how they might best meet the needs of the families and children of people in prison”. She said the eventual aim was to have volunteers to be put directly alongside families struggling to cope with the emotional stress of having a relative in prison.

Dr McLellan, who was a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, will launch the project in Dundee this Wednesday.

Ms Marshall said: “We are delighted that Dr McLellan is able to officially launch the project, not only in his capacity as Chief Inspector of Prisons, but also as a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. His two roles made him the ideal choice to open this new service.”

CrossReach runs more than 80 social care services across Scotland, including care for older people, adults and children with learning disabilities, drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, the homeless and people on probation.