IPRT become members of Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) Network

9th June 2023

The Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) Network General Assembly meeting took place in Limerick on 9 June 2023 after the COPE conference, which was run in conjunction with Bedford Row Family Project. At the General Assembly meeting, a vote took place to accept Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) as full members of the COPE Network. IPRT had been an application member of the network in the hopes of become full members and had met with the COPE team previously.

Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) is a European network of organizations and individuals that works to support the rights and needs of children of imprisoned parents. COPE seeks to raise awareness of the impact of parental imprisonment on children, promote good practice and provide support to those working directly with affected children and families.

There are many benefits of IPRT becoming a full member of COPE, particularly around information sharing with internal organisations working with children of prisoners.

This membership comes as part of IPRT's wider work with the Action for Children and Families Network.

Co-chair of the Action for Children and Families Network, IPRT’s Children and Families Project Coordinator, Ashling Tobin, was at the meeting. She welcomed the news, thanking COPE and the Network for the opportunity to become more involved with the important work of Network.

Read more about the work of the Action for Children and Families Network here.