When Chrissy first started her prison ministry in 1983 she was very shocked to see that there were children staying in the jails simply because their parents were incarcerated and they had nowhere else to go. The Philippine jails    (at the time) were nothing like the prisons that Chrissy was used to in the UK.  There were no guards keeping watch inside the cell blocks.  The inmates were locked inside and the guards kept watch at the gate.  Visitors entered at their own risk, but then children stayed there at their own risk too.  They were exposed to acts of homosexuality, orgies, drug taking, physical and sexual abuse.

The plight of the inmates’ children living on the outside was not much better.  Upon their parents’ arrest many of these children were abandoned. They would turn to a neighbour or friend for help but often found abuse at the hands of those from whom they sought refuge.  The kindest of neighbours or relatives would offer food in exchange of services such as washing clothes by hand, cleaning, ironing and the like. For most of these children there was no hope of going to school.

Chrissy endeavoured to offer these silent victims of crime a loving, safe, home where they could continue their education and have the hope of a promising future.

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The doors at POCM were open to children of inmates needing a place of refuge in 1987 and later Philippine Outreach Centre Children’s Homes were established.