Kate Middleton‘s new mission centers around children under the age of 5 — and the last stop on her24-hour tourof the U.K. showed the impact early years can have on a person’s life.
“It really shocked me when I came here last time how early the challenges were that you faced,” Kate told a group of former inmates, including three women she met in 2015 when they were serving sentences. “How early you could take it back.”
BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty
In the prison visits hall, sitting around a coffee table with mugs of tea and a cake, she talked to five ex-offenders about their childhood traumas — problems with alcoholic or absent parents, family breakdown, domestic abuse — and how they believed it had triggered their offending.
She also had conversations with four women currently serving sentences at the prison who told her stories about parents separating, drink and drug addiction.
One current prisoner, Francesca, told Kate that she got on drugs and started offending after her parents split up.
Kate Middleton.Dominic Lipinski-WPA Pool/Getty
Kate Middleton.DOMINIC LIPINSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty
She added: “Coming to jail is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”
The royal mom said, “It’s so often I hear that. Why does it have to get to that point before people receive the help and support?”
She told the women: “I’m hugely passionate about trying to really help get into this crisis trying to help provide that prevention mechanism and that support system in our communities. Particularly that support in the early years of life.”
Kate Middleton.Samir Hussein/PA Images
Kate Middleton.BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty
“I’m here today to help launch a survey to hear society’s views about raising the next generation,” she said. “Parents, carers and families are at the heart of caring for children in the formative years so that is why I want to listen to them.”
“As a parent, I know how much we cherish the future health and happiness of our children. I want to hear the key issues affecting our families and communities so I can focus my work on where it is needed most. My ambition is to provide lasting change for generations to come.”
Kate Middleton.
“I see amazing work you’re doing here in so many areas,” she told workers at the center. “It’s just bringing it to light. The critical work you’re doing has a massive social — and economic — impact later down the years.”
GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images
Kate also opened up about how helpful a similar center would have been when she was a new mother toPrince George.
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David Holmes, chief executive of the charity Family Action (which Katejoined for some pre-Christmas funin December), adds, “Every parent, carer and family wants the best for their child and raising the profile of the vital early years in a child’s life is work of national importance. The insight this survey will give the early years sector valuable direction in designing and delivering services and support which reflect what matters most to people.”
source: people.com
