Who We Are
- A Limerick City based voluntary group, initiated in 1999 by the Franciscan and Mercy Orders.
- A Registered Charity and Company Limited by Guarantee, having a Board of Directors whose members come from a wide range of backgrounds and diverse experiences.
- A Community of People who:
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Are inspired by an awareness of the particular experience and issues of families of prisoners.
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Support families affected by imprisonment in addressing their issues.
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Work with other groups, voluntary, statutory and community based, in the interest of social inclusion.
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Are committed to:
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Listening to the experience of people affected by imprisonment,
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Allowing that experience to shape the direction of the project.
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Work proactively with family members of prisoners, and ex-prisoners, to ease their distress and assist them in making positive life choices in particular with respect to their children.
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Provide leadership and direction in design and implementation of programmes that work effectively with families affected by imprisonment and related matters.
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We hope that you will find this website and all the links on it informative and interesting.
If you have any comments we would be grateful to receive them.
Please click on the various links at the top of each page to find out more about us.
Our Priorities...
The primary priorities of Bedford Row Family Project are:
- The alleviation of distress that is caused to family members by the imprisonment of one or more of the members of the family,
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- The re-integration of ex-prisoners into their families, their communities, and society in general.
Within those primary priorities, a number of specific tasks can be identified.
The research report 'Voices of Families Affected by Imprisonment' imply tasks which the Project believe are attainable.
These tasks have been determined by 1) what the voices express and 2) what is feasible and practicable.
In particular, Bedford Row Family Project is committed to working in a manner which is real and tangible for people who access our service. Our programmes need to focus on issues which reflect people's fears, doubts, and anxieties as well as their joys, hopes and aspirations. Programmes are led by participants' needs and the management and leadership group works actively with people to determine those needs.
The type of tasks that we need to attend to over the next five years can thus be stated:
- To continue to provide the information and refreshment service in Limerick Prison.
- To attend to the follow up work initiated in the information and refreshment service and work in a creative, holistic and inclusive way with family members who present to the Project in distress.
- To attend to the training and support needs of the staff team who are the people who will carry out the work.
- To train people within the Project to enhance their skills to undertake work in the communities most affected by imprisonment on an ongoing basis.
- To continue the work which involves building on parents' strengths, wisdom, and ambition to promote good parenting and thereby enhance their children's well being, in a supportive and challenging environment, including encouragement to ex-prisoners to attend to their responsibilities with respect to themselves and their families.
- To actively promote involvement of the focus group in the management and leadership group of Bedford Row Family Project.
- To raise funds to continue our work so that necessary services that are of benefit to the focus group will be continued on an ongoing basis.
- To closely liaise with services that meet the needs of members of the focus group which cannot be met within Bedford Row, (e.g. addiction treatment, accommodation, employment, advocacy).
- To raise awareness among the general public of the issues that affect families affected by imprisonment.
- To work actively to lobby for services that will positively affect the lives of the focus group (e.g. addiction treatment centres, easy to access play therapy services for children, conflict resolution initiatives in families, good quality accommodation, etc.)
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Our Sponsors
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The initial costs of the Project were carried by the Franciscan Friars and the Sisters of Mercy, who jointly pioneered the Project. They have also sponsored particular projects over the years.
Since December 2001 the Irish Prison Service has provided yearly grant aid to cover the majority of staff and office running costs. This is vital to the running of the Project and is an acknowledgment by Irish Prison Service of the necessity of our work and its benefit to family members who are affected by imprisonment.
The Mercy Sisters continue to support the Project financially. Also, their support, by being active members of the management committee, is a vital part of our overall effort.
In 2008 The Franciscan Order, when leaving Limerick, granted Bedford Row Family Project a long-term lease, in effect, ownership, of the premises in Lower Bedford Row which has been our home since 1999.
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