Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, prison visits were shut in Croatia, thus challenging the child-parent relationship. As a response, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children Croatia conducted thorough advocacy work to enhance children of prisoners’ rights. The Office recommended the wider use of video and phone calls between children and their imprisoned parents, as … Read More
“Manual for prison staff on the needs of children” – A booklet for Prison Services
The booklet published by Croatian organisation RODA, for prison staff, illustrates how to recognise the needs of children visiting their parent(s) in prison. The manual was distributed to all correctional facilities in Croatia. It is available here.
“Unbroken Ties” – A booklet for parents in prison and their families
RODA created, published, and distributed Unbroken Ties, a booklet providing prisoners and their families with tips regarding imprisonment. It covers some of the main challenges regarding imprisonment and parenthood such as how to have an open conversation with a child about prison, the importance of telling the truth, possibilities of maintaining contact with a child from … Read More
Statistics Croatia
Prison population total and prison rate per 100,000 are retrieved from Aebi, M. F., Cocco, E., Molnar, L. & Tiago, M. M., (2022). SPACE I – 2021 – Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics: Prison populations. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Table 7.Estimated number of children separated from an imprisoned parent: extrapolation based on Champsaur, P., … Read More
Strategy for Child Rights 2016 – 2021
Children’s Ombudsman’s Office Croatia played a crucial role in lobbying the Council of Europe to ensure that they include children who are affected by parental incarceration in their Strategy for the Rights of the Child 2016-2021. Children of imprisoned parents are now considered a group of vulnerable, marginalized children in this new Strategy. The Ombudsman’s … Read More