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The Challenge of Stigma is a new initiative led by COPE, exploring how stigma affects children who have a parent in prison and how creative activities can help challenge it. Through three art-based projects piloted by COPE members in France, Spain and Poland, children will…

We know that cross-sectoral collaboration is needed so that children are considered from the moment of a parent’s arrest through to their sentencing, imprisonment and reintegration. Yet achieving interconnected coordinated action requires…

The third edition of the European Game with Mum & Dad (GWMD) project officially kicked off at Rapotice Prison in Czechia on 30 May 2026 and then at Brno on 6 June.

The new Act on Temporary Enforcement Abroad entered into force on 3 July 2026. Under the agreement, Swedish prisoners transferred to Estonia will serve their sentences in Estonian prisons under…

In Poland, more than 90,000 children* are growing up separated from a parent in prison, often without consistent or coordinated support. A new Charter signed on 19 March 2026 in Kraków aims to change that by placing their needs more firmly on the agenda of public institutions and…

In a powerful step toward more child-sensitive prison practice, two closely linked interactive workshops brought prison officers from across Greece together this December to focus on the rights and well-being of children visiting a parent in prison and to reflect on their own experiences…

Ensuring that children remain protected, supported and meaningfully connected when a parent is imprisoned requires more than isolated actions by individual institutions. It demands coordinated responses across justice, prison, child protection and social services…

An estimated 2.1 million children across Europe have a parent in prison on any given day. Yet we often hear that considering the rights and needs of these children is a “niche” topic within criminal justice discussions, an “extra” issue, peripheral to the main objectives and realities of the prison world…

On June 27, 2025, COPE held its fourth Judicial Roundtable in Lisbon, Portugal, hosted by the Portuguese Supreme Court of Justice. A central goal of the event was to …

On 24 June 2025, COPE held the online seminar “Creative Connections,” organised in collaboration with the Special Health Center for Prisoners of Korydallos, the NGO EPANODOS for the support of released prisoners and the General Secretariat for Crime Prevention Policy. Coordinators Liz Ayre, Arete…

Held at Caritas Community Centre, Malta, this conference centred on understanding and dismantling the stigma faced by children affected by parental imprisonment, exploring how it permeates communities, institutions and systems. The conference brought together individuals with lived experience of parental …

COPE has provided input to the OHCHR study on human rights and the social reintegration of persons released from detention and persons subjected to non-custodial measures. In its submission, COPE’s submission highlights the…

COPE has provided input for the UNHCR resolution 52/12 on mental health and human rights, with valuable contributions from COPE member Dr. Rodrigo J. Carcedo González from Universidad de Salamanca (Spain). Drawing on EU-funded research…

On 14 November 2024, Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) hosted its third Judicial Roundtable, this time online, continuing its aim of ensuring that children’s rights remain central during a parent’s criminal…

Prisons are generally not designed as child-friendly spaces. Children who visit their imprisoned parents are often exposed to intimidating and harsh environments.

The COPE Network has provided a significant contribution to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment 27…

The 2024 edition of Game with Mum & Dad (GWMD) officially kicked off in Poland on 4 August in Tarnów on prison grounds…