19th February 2015
Labour MSP Mary Fee has launched a Bill to support the children of prisoners. The legislation will require a needs assessment to be carried out in relation to the children of a parent being sentenced by way of Child and Family Impact Assessments. It will also provide for additional learning support in school. The Bill suggests that parental imprisonment should be one of the triggers for considering whether a child needs additional learning support as it can often be a pre-cursor to other issues requiring support such as truancy, falling educational attainment and behavioural problems.
IPRT welcomes the special consideration of children of prisoners and looks forward to seeing how the Bill develops after the consultation stage.
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Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.