| "I feel that where all connections have been lost, this program has given me and my daughter a gift of memory and a step in getting closer. I feel like a Mom today. Thank you."
Parent Participant
Las Colinas Detention Facility
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OVERVIEW
The United Through Reading Inmate Program is designed to benefit children of incarcerated parents who are experiencing a difficult separation and a possible lack of literacy support in the home.
Through educational workshops and the medium of reading aloud on videotapes, parents can remain connected with or re-connect with their children during their incarceration.
PROGRAM FEATURES
- A positive family experience is created for children
and incarcerated parents that includes a much needed
bonding opportunity.
- Incarcerated parents are empowered as positive
role models who value the contributions they make
to their children and help re-establish a sense
of family.
- A love of books and reading is instilled in the
lives of children.
- Reading materials are provided for the child's
place of residence, encouraging the child's care
provider to read aloud as a part of their daily
routine.
- Change in the participant's life is affected
by facilitating positive family interactions that
will motivate the parent to stay out of jail once
released.
PROGRAM STATEMENT OF NEED
It is a startling fact that the number of children with incarcerated parents is growing. Approximately 1.5 million of America's children under the age of 18 have a parent that is incarcerated. These children are at great risk emotionally and educationally because of the anxiety and depression that separation from a parent due to incarceration can cause.
Children of incarcerated parents are at high risk of incarceration themselves and they exhibit many problems that accompany parental separation.
According to the Women's Prison Association, as the children of incarcerated parents reach adolescence, they may begin to act out in anti-social ways. Searching for attention, pre-teens and teens are at high risk for delinquency, drug addiction, and gang involvement.
PROGRAM SOLUTION
United Through Reading Inmate Program, a program designed to benefit children
of incarcerated parents who are experiencing a difficult
separation and a possible lack of literacy support
in the home.
The Inmate Program is currently offered at 7 San Diego County Detention Facilities, including Las Colinas, East Mesa, George Bailey, Descanso, South Bay, Vista and the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
In our Inmate Program we provide we provide training for incarcerated mothers/fathers utilizing interactive techniques, which emphasize the importance of reading aloud with children, how to choose books, and how to personalize the reading experience to prepare them for reading aloud on videotape. Once the participant is trained by United Through Reading and has chosen and practiced reading a book, a videotape is made of the participant reading aloud. Upon completion, the videotape along with the book is sent to the child's place of residence.
PROGRAM OUTCOMES
United Through Reading Inmate Program's goals are to help facilitate a positive family interaction for children with incarcerated parents, instill the love of reading in children, and motivate parent participants to re-enter the home as a positive role model.
Through this program, the inmates will be able
to contribute to the growth of their children and
have a much-needed opportunity to bond with them
through a literacy experience. As a result, the children
will feel less fearful about the parent's absence
and develop a growing sense of security in the relationship.
They will develop a love for books and reading, learn
new concepts and information, and gain reading readiness
skills and enhanced language and vocabulary.
The incarcerated parents participating in the program will be inspired to practice and improve their own reading skills.
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