The vast majority of individuals who are in U.S. jails and prisons will eventually return to the community. Criminal justice policymakers and practitioners everywhere have made it a priority to ensure these individuals, returning in large numbers each year, do not commit new crimes following their release. As part of these efforts, state and local government officials have focused on the need for people released from prison and jail to have jobs, seeing employment as critical to successful reentry. Indeed, incarcerated individuals that have been asked about their post-release plans…
Brief
This research brief shares findings from an evaluation of the Responsible Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Strengthening Grants for Incarcerated and Reentering Fathers and Their Partners (MFS-IP), a program that funded services to support families in which one parent was incarcerated or recently released. The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) within the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided up to $500,000 per year for five years to twelve grantees. OFA's family strengthening initiative required grantees to work with both…
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The webinar features presentations from Iowa and New York, which addressed child welfare system collaborations with Departments of Corrections (DOC). Iowa presents information about engaging incarcerated parents at the state level and at the local level through the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility Project. Iowa discusses issues of training, barriers, and lessons learned regarding the local pilot child welfare system-DOC collaboration, as well as the State-level DHS-DOC collaboration undertaken as part of Iowa's Program Improvement Plan implementation. New York, in partnership with The…
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Journal Article This article introduces a successful reading program, Family Connections, for incarcerated parents and their children. A comprehensive review of the literature supports the need to implement prison programs from an ecological perspective, in which the needs of inmates and their families are considered. More specifically, the benefits of directing resources toward the establishment of reading programs in prisons and jails for inmates and their children are discussed. The Family Connections program is aimed at improving inmates' parental skills and attributes. The article also includes the…
The Children's Mental Health eReview addresses the gap between what we know from the literature and what we experience working with children and families. Each issue explores a specific topic area and reflects the expertise of a group of people working in diverse research and practice settings. This issue examines the needs of children with incarcerated parents. The contributing authors reflect expertise with a variety of populations, settings and cultures. They represent some of the many people working in creative, collaborative ways to better understand and serve children of incarcerated…
Brief
This brief provides an overview of the evidence supporting the interrelatedness of employment, healthy relationships, family well-being, and recidivism. It also gives the perspectives of expert program practitioners who are successfully integrating programming related to employment, prison reentry, healthy relationships, and responsible fatherhood. (Author abstract)
This report summarizes both the research and stakeholder input shared during the Listening Session on Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents held in Washington, DC in September 2013. The session was organized by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in partnership with the White House Domestic Policy Council and Office of Public Engagement and included more than 40 participants. Participants included those from relevant government agencies and departments, individuals recognized by the White House in June 2013 as Champions of Change for…
