Kate Middleton Opens New Community for Women in the Justice System — and Leaves a Handwritten Note!

The Princess of Wales had a message for the Hope Street community: "I see you and I am with you"

Kate Middleton is shining her royal spotlight on a pioneering program dedicated to keeping women in the justice system with their children — and leaving them with a reassuring message.

On Tuesday, the Princess of Wales visited Hope Street in Southampton, England to officially open the new space. Hope Street was designed and developed by One Small Thing, a charity working to improve the justice system for women and children. The community is the first of its kind in the U.K. and offers a safe alternative for kids to remain with their moms in a home-like environment with targeted support.

“Hope Street offers a community alternative for women who would otherwise be imprisoned unnecessarily due to a lack of safe accommodation or concerns around their well-being,” Kensington Palace said in a statement. “The pilot aims to demonstrate how a compassionate and supportive approach towards women in the justice system can have a transformative impact and improve outcomes for society, providing a blueprint which can be scaled across the country."

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Princess Kate, 41, took a tour of the brand-new facility. The royal mom learned more about the specific support residents will receive and spent time with staff and other partners who have pushed the pilot program to this point. The Princess of Wales heard about how Hope Street will uniquely prevent the trauma of mothers and children being separated in the justice system before meeting women with lived experience.

The Princess of Wales also left a personal, handwritten message which was hung on the facility's Tree of Hope.

"I see you and I am with you. Good luck in all that lies ahead," she wrote, signing the note as simply "Catherine."

The signature is a rare occurrence — although members of the royal family often write their names in visitor books during royal engagements, they can't sign autographs. Kate recently politely refrained from signing her name while spending time with school children during a surprise visit to the Chelsea Flower Show.

"My name's Catherine," she told the children. "I'm not allowed to write my signature, it's just one of those rules."

Instead, she did drawings for the kids: a flower for a girl named Ruby, a tree for another girl and a pond surrounded by plants for a third child.

Construction on Hope Street began in March 2021 and the project was completed this month, according to One Small Thing. The welcoming residential hub features airy communal and private spaces, an onsite nursery and play places for children. One Small Thing’s evidence-based approach is being monitored by The University of Southampton, The Prison Reform Trust and EP:IC, the palace said.

Princess Kate’s stop is her latest family-focused engagement as she continues raising awareness about the importance of the early childhood years and the lifelong impact this critical period has. To take this mission to the next level, the Princess of Wales launched the landmark “Shaping Us” campaign in January. The effort is an offshoot of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which she established in June 2021.

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The Royal Foundation defines the long-term Shaping Us initiative as "a major new awareness-raising campaign to increase public understanding of the crucial importance of the first five years of a child's life." The campaign hopes to transform "the issue from one of scientific interest to one of the most strategically important topics of our time," a statement says.

In May, Kate made two back-to-back engagements in London to meet young people who have experienced the care system and the adults who step up to support them. The outings at the Foundling Museum and the charity Kinship illuminated the importance of loving relationships for children who have experienced adversity, trauma, or bereavement. 

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According to a statement from Kensington Palace, there are over 162,000 children in England and Wales today growing up in “kinship care,” or being fostered, adopted or cared for by extended family and friends. Many of the youth have faced trauma, and benefit from the love of family or friends who welcome them into their lives.

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