NCJ Number
72155
Journal
Young Children Volume: 32 Issue: 6 Dated: (September 1977) Pages: 27-32
Date Published
1977
Length
6 pages
Annotation
A family education center was developed at the Washington State Reformatory to meet the needs of families of incarcerated men through family life education, early childhood education, and children's activities components.
Abstract
Families are under a great deal of stress when the father is confined to an institution--marriages are shattered, parents are isolated from their children, and mothers are forced to carry the full burden of parental responsibility. The Family Education Center at Monroe Reformatory in Washington sought to combat these problems by establishing a children's activity center in a visiting area to serve as a parent demonstration, observation, and participation laboratory, providing a learning experience for children and acting as a springboard to interaction with men and their families. The program aims to strengthen families, assist them in further developing their parenting skills, and giving them a better understanding of children and their developmental needs. Families who use the center are given an initial explanation of the program. At first, the center helps to give the parents a chance to visit by themselves, but before long the child involves the parents in his activities by showing his parents his achievements. Parents spend more and more time playing with and learning with their children. As the program began, it depended on residents who had indicated an interest and an ability to work with young children as a support staff, who must sensitively step back when parents take the initiative; parents have steadily taken over more and more of the support staff positions. Meanwhile those positions are filled by residents in the prison and by students from the nearby Edmonds Community College. This college has also helped to share the cost of the program as a parent cooperative preschool. The school has been developed to include nutritious snacks, ongoing educational assistance for children who attend it regularly, a wide variety of activities to maintain interest levels, and individual counseling to families, and extensive parent participation. The program has repeatedly shown great success in strengthening families.