Forgotten Kids

The children of prisoners are secondary and vulnerable victims with no access to targeted care. There are 40,000 children with a parent in prison in the Czech Republic. The children are emotionally deprived and suffer from family separation. They live in poverty and are stigmatised. This situation jeopardises their development as healthy young adults.

Forgotten Kids (“Zapomenuté děti”) helps children and their incarcerated parent strengthen family ties and solve problems. We work with children as their advocates and raise awareness to support their needs.

Forgotten Kids works with children of all ages who have a parent in prison. However, our target group is the entire family. We support maintaining the family’s relationship and the child’s welfare in and out of prison. We also provide public outreach to provide adequate resources and care for the children’s needs within prisons and further follow-up care.

The programme opens up a very difficult taboo. In addition to helping those in need, we raise awareness to the public on the needs of children of prisoners from the programme’s media coverage. This can contribute to systemic changes in the Czech Republic and improve the lives of these children.

Forgotten Kids can serve as a model for other organizations and the state. We also plan research, workshops, and publish guidebooks for professionals who work with the children of prisoners. We also share our experiences with organizations in the Czech Republic and around the world at international conferences.