Local gov't fails jailed moms: MP

There is not enough assistance for mothers going to prison. This is the conclusion of PvdA Parliamentarian Marith Rebel after a telephone survey among more than 50 municipalities. Rebel also posed as a mother who has to go to prison and is looking for help for her two young children. Only one municipality referred her to the appropriate care provider. The person appointed to assist in these kinds of matters is the municipal coordinator who deals with the guidance of prisoners and ex-prisoners. Each municipality has such a coordinator, but colleagues in the municipality do not appear to know about this. Rebel repeated a study that her colleague, Lea Bouwmeester, conducted two years ago. At that time the study also concluded that municipalities do not know how to deal with these requests. In the initiative note that Bouwmeester then rote, she states that children of the incarcerated are forgotten by the government. Rebel is concerned about the situation and wants to debate it with State Secretary Fred Teeven of Security and Justice. "Vulnerable children must not become victims of their incarcerated parents", says Rebel.