Those who affect and wish to affect policy in regards to children with imprisoned parents tend to fall into the trope of discussing these children as if they are a single entity, with the same experiences. These children, however, are ordinary children facing difficult and unusual life circumstances. They all have individual experiences and in many cases, varying wants and needs. These differences need to affect how the issues that they experience are addressed. These children need an arena in which they can explain their reactions to parental imprisonment and understand their experience on their own terms. With over 800,000 children in Europe that have imprisoned parents, each experience is unique. By remembering that, we can give children the stage to express themselves.
Tomorrow we will be releasing a video that addresses just that. 800,000 voices scratches the surface of the many different experiences children have during their parent’s imprisonment. The reactions these children have shows the complexity of emotions experienced and gives us a starting point to begin to listen.
No one can put it better than the children themselves.
Check out our campaign website www.notmycrimestillmysentence.org on Tuesday 9th June 2015 to see the brand new video in five languages!
