On 18-19 May 2016, the Croatian prison service hosted the first Family Relations expert meeting in Zagreb, Croatia comprising of 11 experts from European National Agencies (Czech Republic, Croatia, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Catalonia, Scotland, Romania and Slovenia). Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) were invited to attend this meeting to contribute ideas and experiences about the subject. The meeting was planned ahead of the COPE conference (20 May).
The experts presented their countries’ best practices, existing initiatives and projects in relation to the developments of family relations in prison services. The group concluded that it is essential to create European standards for prisons on family relations. A working group report will be produced based on a collection of best practices according to these five pillars: