On 13 February, COPE, in partnership with the Fédération des Rélais Enfants Parents (FREP) and Child and Space, officially launched its new “Papa Plus” initiative. The launch took place at COPE and FREP’s new shared office space, and was an intimate evening of presentations and fruitful discussion followed by live music and conversation. Through presentations from FREP Director Emmanuel Gallaud, COPE director Liz Ayre, FREP president Alain Bouregba, and Vessela Banova, psychoanalyst and therapeutic director at Child and Space, invitees were able to learn more about each of the three organisations involved; the “Papa Plus” model; the theory and ethical approach behind its development; and the Bulgarian context in which the initiative will be rolled out.
Drawing on father support and prison staff training initiatives that have been established across the COPE network, Papa Plus has been designed to involve prison staff in the important work of supporting the child-parent relationship when a parent is in prison. Supporting and nurturing this relationship is essential for the health, well-being, and education of the child, as well as for facilitating the reintegration of parents upon their release from prison. In Bulgaria, there is a significant lack of support programmes for fathers in prison, they do not receive the help they need to fulfill their role as parents. Among prison staff there is often a lack of awareness of what is at stake for the child-parent relationship: how to support positive parenting and respond to children’s specific needs; how to preserve and strengthen the child-parent bond; how to promote communication and contact with families in order to facilitate reintegration.
Papa Plus will provide opportunities for prison staff to share their experiences of working with fathers in prison, and to learn about the role that they can play in strengthening child-parent bonds. As part of Papa Plus, COPE has produced a video tool to be used in sessions with prison staff, which was presented at the launch. The evening provided a wonderful opportunity to exchange with partners and volunteers, as well as representatives from the Rights and Association Partnerships section at the Ministry of Justice; and to see the shared enthusiasm for this innovative initiative.
