Webinar — how schools and prisons can join hands to support children with imprisoned parents скачать в хорошем качестве

Webinar — how schools and prisons can join hands to support children with imprisoned parents

Children of Prisoners Europe's Webinar held on 25 November 2024 Speakers: Sarah Beresford, a former secondary school teacher and Family Support Manager at Families Outside Polly Wright, a consultant with 20 years of experience in children and family sectors, notably in project management, research and development. Effective support for children impacted by a parent’s imprisonment requires the collective effort and awareness of many stakeholders, including police, prison and probation services, courts, schools, civil society, social services and health providers. COPE organised a webinar on the roles of two groups — school staff and prison professionals — and how they can collaboratively work to strengthen and maintain child-parent bonds when a parent is in prison. Both schools and prisons play an important role in upholding children’s rights. For example, prison guards ensure children feel safe and respected during visits, while schools share information (e.g. school reports) with parents in prison. When prisons and schools work collaboratively, prison walls become more permeable to family life: parents in prison can engage more actively in their children’s education through the help of schools, who in turn gain better insight into the challenges children face and how they can help. This integrated approach to child protection is key, as underscored by the European Commission’s Recommendation launched in April 2024. COPE’s webinar is framed by this Recommendation, which seeks to foster coordinated, multi-disciplinary responses as promoted by the Commission.