On 31 January, COPE’s Secretary General Nancy Loucks OBE of Families Outside represented COPE at a Parliamentary expert meeting and a national-level conference on children with imprisoned parents in Lisbon, Portugal. Nancy spoke on behalf of COPE about the network, recent European developments for children of prisoners and the Italian model Memorandum of Understanding. Among other presentations, participants heard from Human Rights Judge Armando Leandro, President of the National Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People at Risk, who spoke enthusiastically about the need to recognise and support children with imprisoned parents.
The conference and meetings, hosted by soon-to-be COPE affiliate Confiar – Prison Fellowship Portugal, were very well received and there seems to be cross-party political support. All parties present saw possibilities for ways forward and have agreed to set up a working group made up of the various political party members, along with the Ombudsman, specifically to progress work on this issue in Portugal.
