Events

*webinar recording below*

Introduction

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 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. A young person whose parent was imprisoned will brought her expertise to the webinar, rooting discussions in the voice of experience. Practitioners and policy makers in education and criminal justice were also present in this cross-border discussion where child rights-based actions and ideas were presented. For example, a champion model that works across prisons and schools, promoting partnership and providing consistent support for children across agencies. Participants were also offered resources and useful tools, such as templates for cross-sectoral collaboration and models for local roundtable events.

Speakers

• Young person impacted by a parent’s imprisonment
• Sarah Beresford, Prison Reform Trust Associate and Churchill Fellow
  A former secondary school teacher and Family Support Manager at Families Outside, Sarah has worked for over a decade to engage schools in supporting families and children with imprisoned parents. She established an in-prison training programme to increase teachers’ awareness of the impact of imprisonment on families and has co- developed, with young people, a child impact assessment tool to ensure children impacted by parental imprisonment are listened to, supported, and included in decisions made about them.
• Polly Wright, Independent children & families research, practice & police expert Polly Wright has 20 years of experience in children and family sectors, notably in project management, research and development. She has chaired and participated in local and national strategy groups to develop multi-agency responses to supporting the children of prisoners, and developed and delivered training to practitioners across education, social care, policing and the prison service to develop knowledge and awareness about parental imprisonment.