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Description
When a parent goes to prison, a child not only loses someone important. This also leads to a feeling of shame, marginalization, stigmatization, and exclusion within their age group. According to studies conducted in the UK, boys whose fathers go to prison are particularly likely to exhibit criminal conduct - 65% of people in this group turn to crime unless specialist measures are taken towards them. We are the only organization in the Małopolskie Voivodship that conducts a full range of measures to help children and families of convicts. The main aim of the project is to take measures to counter social exclusion and marginalization of relatives of people in prison, in particular children and young people. We will work with children and young people in groups (two age groups, 11-14 and 15-18 years) in the form of empowerment and activation workshops, a self-help group for adult relatives, and a confidential helpline. We plan to create a group of ambassadors among the older children, who will assist younger or less experienced children and will be coached to become self-advocates. We will also organize training for vocational groups that come into contact with relatives of convicts (the prison service, school education specialists, social workers, court welfare officers). We will conduct a social campaign entitled I am not responsible, but am being punished to draw attention to the needs of children of convicts among society at large. 300 children and adults who have someone in prison, and 100 people in vocational groups that come into conduct with relatives of convicts, will take part in the project.
Summary of project results
The project addresses the needs of children and families of people incarcerated in prisons and custody suites. Children of incarcerated persons are often referred to as the ''invisible population'', ''invisible children'' or ''innocent victims of crime''. For a child, the deprivation of a parent''s liberty not only means the loss of a person important to them, but is also associated with shame, marginalisation, stigmatisation and peer exclusion. These children are also a group particularly vulnerable to engaging in criminal behaviour. It can be estimated that there are approximately 120,000 such children living in Poland.As part of the project, the Project promoter worked with children and families of inmates. Children and young people took part in regular, cyclical empowerment and activation workshops (2 groups of 36 meetings each), while adults formed a self-help group. A helpline for families was also launched. The Project promoter organised five training sessions for professional groups working with the families of inmates, including school educators, social workers and prison staff. The trainings were devoted to the situation of children of inmates. The trainings took place in the penitentiary units in Krakow and Bydgoszcz. A scientific conference was also organised on the social functioning of the families of prisoners, with a particular focus on the perspective of the child. A social campaign "Not my fault, but my punishment" was also carried out, which drew attention to the needs of children; as part of the campaign, a film was made in which children talked about their own experience of having a parent in prison.The project involved more than 300 people, children and adults whose loved one had been deprived of their liberty, as well as dozens of professionals working with the families of prisoners. Thanks to the project, the families of inmates were strengthened and integrated, their living comfort improved, the risk of social exclusion of these families and the risk of coming into conflict with the law decreased. They have received emotional support and learned where they can seek further assistance (legal or psychological). Thanks to the implementation of the project, it was possible to establish the first sociotherapeutic groups in Poland for children and young people whose parents are serving prison sentences. An important result of the project was to sensitise both those working with children and families and the general public to their needs.
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