‘Prison visits are never fun. Before you’re nervous – you are glad to see them but you’re also worried about them and leaving you are very sad because you don’t know when you’ll get to see them again.’ – Forum for Young People’s Voices
COPE’s annual international conference took place on Friday 31 May in Krakow, Poland. Entitled ‘Bridging the gap: Boosting the visibility, voices and cross-sectoral support of children who have a parent in prison’, the event was hosted by COPE member organisation Probacja Foundation at Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University. The day heard presentations from a range of Polish and international speakers on such topics as defining the best interests of children with imprisoned parents, how to advocate most effectively for these children, parent support initiatives, the key task of ensuring that sentencers take into consideration the rights and specific needs of these children when sentencing parents, and more. The highlight of the day was the ‘Forum for Young People’s Voices’. The Forum allowed children to share their thoughts on the support that works best for them, and left participants with some clear ideas of how to move forward in working to ensure their support and opportunities. The COPE network works to encourage innovative perspectives and practice to ensure the rights of children with imprisoned parents are fully respected and that action is taken to secure their well-being and development. Ensuring that the voices of children with imprisoned parents are heard is essential.
The ‘Forum for young people’s voices’ was a presentation from fourteen young people who had gathered together on 30 May to discuss their shared experiences of having a parent in prison. The young people shared their perspectives on being perceived differently some of the challenges and hopes for the future that they have. Some of their feedback was that teachers might treat you differently, and ask you all the time if you are okay, which is stressful; it is good to know [mum or dad] will be in prison, but also good to not tell young people full details; having a parent in prison is hard because people might not understand and might not know what to say; children should be prepared before visits because they can be pretty scary. The young people shared their hopes for the future: my hope is that when my father is out he will change his decisions; it is not a new problem to have a parent in prison, I hope you will listen to us, and act; I think we can all work together to change prison to make it a better place; we are normal people as well, not just people with parents in prison. The young people spoke with incredible maturity, and emphasised that they are able and willing to be involved in decisions concerning them.
Ann Adalist-Estrin, Director of the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, Rutgers University, presented on enhancing advocacy and action when protecting children. Ms. Adalist-Estrin discussed the importance of perspective, and constantly reflecting on how we see things in our work, saying that we need to think about young children who are dependent on their parents and how we support the caregivers. Who are we advocating for? Are there competing agendas?
A two-part conclusion to the conference included a discussion between COPE Board member Rachel Brett and Ann Adalist-Estrin, and a presentation from Kjersti Holden and Carmen Grande from For Fangers Pårørende in Norway. Ms. Brett and Ms. Adalist-Estrin asked participants to consider something they heard during the conference that affirms them in their work, something that they are doing well; something that was heard during the day that they want to investigate; something new that they are eager to put into action; something new that they want to put into action. Some conclusions were offered up, regarding what the young people shared, ultimately there is a need to listen and act. Carmen Grande shared her experience of having a parent in prison, highlighting that realising there were other children with the same experiences as her was positive, and that it is a relief to be able to speak openly rather than hide things. Carmen emphasised that prisons need to be more child-friendly and that children need to know it is not their fault if their parent is in prison. It is something children can talk about, and should talk about.