Advocacy strategy needed for prisoners’ children, say groups
The call was made by the Irish Penal Reform Trust, the Children’s Rights Alliance, and Dr Fiona Donson and Dr Aisling Parkes of the School of Law at University College Cork at a conference organised by UCC and held in Dublin yesterday.
The ‘Unseen Unheard Conference’ featured contributions from the Irish Prison Service, Tusla, the Limerick-based Bedford Row Family Project that supports families of prisoners, and who outlined the adversity many families can face when a member is jailed.
Tanya Ward, the chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, said: “Visiting a parent in prison can be a harrowing experience. We don’t know how many children in Ireland have a parent in prison. But we do know that it has a major impact on their lives. Far more is needed to support and protect these children so they can enjoy childhood like other children.”
Representatives of the Saol project, which works with women and children in the north-east inner city in Dublin, stressed the importance of treatment and drop-in services for those affected, while Fergal Black, director of care and rehabilitation in the Irish Prison Service, outlined its goal of family-friendly prisons and the need to change the mindset within the prison system.
Dr Parkes and Dr Donson said it was crucial that the needs of what they described as a discrete group were recognised and met in areas such as education, health, social protection and social welfare. They said a national and cross-sectoral approach is needed, which could help mitigate against longer-term adverse effects in their own lives.
The acting director of the IPRT, Fíona Ní Chinnéide said: “The rights and needs of children affected by imprisonment in this country have been largely ignored within Irish policy and practice. It is almost five years since IPRT first published a report calling for children affected by imprisonment to have their rights and needs recognised and met. We look forward to working with the Government to make this happen.”
Other contributors included Tim Haines of the Families Outside organisation in Scotland, who said the focus on the children of prisoners should rest primarily on what they need, rather than what their family member did.
