COPE’s 2017 conference in Naples, Italy, took place on 19 May and was organised in partnership with Bambinisenzasbarre. Through a series of engaging presentations, the conference explored how working to support the child-parent relationship when a parent is imprisoned benefits all parties involved: the child, the imprisoned parent, the caretaker parent, the prison, decision-makers, media, local communities, … Read More
Memorandum of Understanding
Council of Europe Committee of Ministers draft Recommendation on children with imprisoned parents
The 15th meeting of the Council of Europe’s Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) Working Group took place in Strasbourg, 10-12 April 2017, to consider the text of a draft recommendation related to children of imprisoned parents, Document PC-CP (2017)7, making a number of comments and amendments to the text drafted by COPE from the point … Read More
First Portuguese conference on children of prisoners
On 31 January, COPE’s Secretary General Nancy Loucks OBE of Families Outside represented COPE at a Parliamentary expert meeting and a national-level conference on children with imprisoned parents in Lisbon, Portugal. Nancy spoke on behalf of COPE about the network, recent European developments for children of prisoners and the Italian model Memorandum of Understanding. Among … Read More
Forthcoming Guide on Implementing a Memorandum of Understanding
The Italian model “Memorandum of Understanding on children with imprisoned parents” (MOU), an agreement between the Italian Minister for Justice, the National Ombudsman for Childhood and Adolescence and COPE member NGO Bambinisenzasbarre, was originally signed in 2014. This agreement concerns the fulfillment and protection of the rights of children with imprisoned parents. Valid for two … Read More
Written Declaration on the protection of the children of imprisoned parents
On 12 September, ten Members of the European Parliament placed a Written Declaration (WD) on the protection of children with imprisoned parents before the parliament under Rule 136 of the body’s Rules of Procedure. Read the text here. The sponsoring MEPs, members of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Children’s Rights, include Patrizia Toia (Italy), Sergio Gaetano … Read More
Data collection and children affected by parental incarceration
Based on COPE’s estimates, 800,000 children have a parent in prison on any given day in the European Union, a figure that rises to 2.1 million when all Council of Europe countries are included. The total number of children affected throughout a year is likely even higher again, given that the total number of people … Read More
Italy renews Memorandum of Understanding on children with imprisoned parents
On 6 September 2016, the Italian Minister for Justice, Andrea Orlando, has renewed his signature of COPE member Bambinisenzasbarre’s pioneering Memorandum of Understanding on children with imprisoned parents. The third signatory, Filomena Albano, Italian Ombudswoman for Childhood and Adolescence has also renewed her signature. This landmark document, a first in Europe, represents an agreement between the … Read More
Data collection and children with imprisoned parents
This week, COPE’s annual campaign “Not my crime, still my sentence” will be focusing on the importance of collecting data relating to children of prisoners. Included in Article 6 of the Italian Memorandum of Understanding and expressly stated as the subject of a Council of Europe Parliamentary resolution, data collection is an issue of key … Read More
Information, assistance and support for children of prisoners
This week, the focus of COPE’s campaign “Not my crime, still my sentence” is the importance of providing information, assistance and support for children of imprisoned parents. Receiving appropriate and timely information about their parent’s whereabouts and well-being is of crucial importance to a child. Lack of information may lead to confusion, anxiety and fears. … Read More
Andrea Orlando, Italian Minister for Justice, sends message to COPE
Letter from Minister Andrea Orlando, Minister of Justice, Italy Sent to the President of the COPE network, Lucy Gampell, at COPE’s annual conference co-organised and hosted by the Ombudsman for Children in Zagreb, Croatia, which took place on 20 May 2016 Children with a parent in conflict with the law: What are their best interests? How can … Read More