On Saturday, August 23, the municipal football field of MKS Trzebinia (Poland) hosted the final match of Game with Mum and Dad, a three-year project of the Probacja Foundation, which works inside Polish prisons to defend the rights of children of imprisoned parents and promote their inclusion and family care. Game with Mum & Dad (GWMD) is an initiative designed to strengthen the bond between children and their imprisoned parents in a meaningful and child-friendly setting. Moving the encounter outside prison walls was deliberate: as one parent put it, “such meetings outside the prison are very important, especially for children. It is a great initiative, allowing the child to spend time with their father in a normal way.” Organizers had secured heated rooms beside the pitch — “we had access to rooms where we could share a meal and warm up, since the weather that day was not very kind to us” — a detail families later praised as part of the “very good organization of the event.”
Participation reflected the prison’s current capacity: the Trzebinia facility, under renovation and operating as a semi-open and open unit for first-time offenders, houses about 100 inmates. Seven families attended, including 11 children (six aged 1–4, three aged 5–10, two aged 11–17). Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the program alternated drills and a friendly match, precisely the ‘Game with Mum and Dad’, with a picnic lunch, children’s activities, and simple prompts for family time together. “Every day spent together with family strengthens bonds,” one respondent said, while another called the format “very pleasant and satisfying.”
Local football figures lent structure without eclipsing the family focus. The Małopolska Football Association was represented by Dariusz Siekliński, and Kacper Ślusarek, coach at MKS Trzebinia, ran warm-ups and games. Three volunteers supported children’s stations and the post-match picnic.
A survey consistently highlighted the atmosphere: “10/10. The games and activities organized for both children and adults were great. The prison staff were helpful and very kind. The time spent here was really enjoyable.” Another parent, summing up the day, wrote simply: “awesome!”
“Every day spent together with family strengthens bonds.”
— a mother
The Prison Service kept a low profile while maintaining oversight. Second Lieutenant Tomasz Starzykiewicz, cultural and educational officer, and Lieutenant Paulina Dzidek, head of the penitentiary department, attended in plain clothes, a choice families noticed. One participant praised the balance of informality and order: “The event was well-organized. Active time on the field. A room where we could eat and drink. Activities for the children. Everything was excellent.” Others stressed the family impact beyond the touchline: “A meeting like today’s is very important for family ties – both because of the separation between father and children, and also between husband and wife.”
The presence of Paulina Bąbol, a professional photographer, was particularly special (the photographs illustrating this article are hers). She created beautiful family photo sessions. A photograph of a family sitting together on the grass is not only a precious keepsake for the parent serving a sentence, but above all for the child, who can proudly show it to friends as a memory of the wonderful time spent with their family.
At our family visits, the Prison Service staff attend in civilian clothing. They truly took to heart the suggestions made by children who were part of the jury in a contest we organized together with the Kraków Remand Centre for the “Best Family Visit” on the occasion of Children’s Day. The competition was resolved in June this year. While evaluating photos and videos from different penitentiary units, children highlighted that they feel much more comfortable when officers are not in uniform. Uniforms are often a source of stress, especially for children who have witnessed the arrest of their parent. Our partners from the Prison Service listened carefully to this feedback, and during visits and football matches they attend without uniforms.
During this visit, there was quite a large group of very young children, those who require constant attention and care. For fathers who do not live with their families on a daily basis, this was a unique opportunity to experience what everyday life looks like for those who care for their children. At times, it was quite exhausting. And the children’s mothers did not step in to relieve the fathers or give them any “special treatment.” The children had their fathers all to themselves. Surely, after this visit, the dads felt tired not only because of the football match.
By early afternoon, families were still lingering around the tables, trading jokes and photos, the kind of ordinary togetherness rare in a penal setting. The feedback echoed the day’s modest ambitions: keep it simple, keep it human. “Very good organization of the event,” one parent concluded — and, as another reminded, “every day spent together with family strengthens bonds.”
How can we sum up the day? In the words of Agnieszka Szeliga-Żywioł, Vice-President of the Probacja Foundation and head of the GWMD event in Poland: “For me, the implementation of the GWMD project is also an opportunity to build a completely new relationship with Prison Service staff. When we share in the joy of families, when we carefully and empathetically attend to every detail, when we participate in what is most important for the imprisoned parents — even touching upon their privacy and intimacy — and we do all this together, side by side, then even when we later return to our professional roles and daily responsibilities, we are no longer the same.”
We would like to remind you that ‘Game with Mum and Dad’ is a project conceived and coordinated by Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) for the 36 members organisations of its European network (Probacja is one of them), which follows the model created by Italian member Bambinisenzasbarre, which has been organising it in Italian prisons since 2015. This model centers on the child’s right to maintain regular, quality contact with both parents, including those in prison, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (20.11.1989).
