10th October 2010
Report on the Children’s Ombudsman’s expert group
The final report from The Children’s Ombudsman’s expert group on children with an imprisoned family member will be distributed to the Ministry of Justice and all the 50 prisons in Norway. The report includes reference quotes from child experts as well as a list of children’s advice and suggestions, to serve as input to prison staff and stakeholders. Eurochips member FFP cooperated with the Children’s Ombudsman for this report by serving as consulting organisation in the expert groups.
Some more news from Norway:
FFP joins work group with representative from Ministry of Justice
The Norwegian Ministry of Justice wants to improve the situation of family members of prisoners. In the last White paper on the correctional service in Norway (2008), the Ministry of Justice highlighted the need of improving the situation of prisoners’ family members, in particular those of the children. The report draws up a list of various topics for improvement such as visiting conditions, a system with family officers, financial support for the families and others issues. FFP has now been invited to join a monthly work group with representatives from the Ministry of Justice to discuss and develop concrete suggestions and measures of how to transform intentions into action.
Holidays for family members of prisoners
For the fifth consecutive year, FFP arranged summer holidays for family members of prisoners. During the four- day stay in the small city of Kragerø, children and adults joined for relaxing and quality time-out from everyday life. Besides leisurely activities such as boat trips, FFP arranged for group meetings for children and young people who are affected by the imprisonement of a family member, a great opportunity to share experiences, to raise concerns and questions, and to enjoy time together.