Alone to school

In Romania, children with an imprisoned parent are at a greater risk for dropping out of school. Since 2015, COPE applicant member the SVASTA Foundation has worked on a project entitled “Alone to school”. The main objective of the project is to support children and young people with an imprisoned parent to complete their studies. More than 350 students have benefited from such support. Those students have gone on to graduate as engineers, teachers, doctors, and economists. This project, which involves contacting all 40 penitentiaries in Romania and identifying children in critical circumstances, continues today. The SVASTA Foundation has recognised the need to expand their target group. They are working to extend their support to children from Romania whose parent is in prison in another European country. For example, there is a significant number of Romanian citizens in countries like Germany, Italy and Spain who have family that remained in Romania.