LOOK UP AND HOPE...
A program to help strengthen families affected by incarceration
Since 1896, Volunteers of America has been serving prisoners and their families. Our mission is to break the cycle of poverty for children affected by incarceration and walk beside them as they reach their full potential.
The number of incarcerated mothers has more than doubled from 29,500 in 1991 to 65,600 in 2007, which translates to 70 percent of all women in prison are mothers. Children whose mothers are incarcerated are more likely to have witnessed their parents’ arrest, experiencing significant trauma and household disruption as a result. When a mother is incarcerated, her children are likely to be transferred to the care of a non-parental caregiver, most often their grandmother. A significant body of research indicates that these children will suffer serious psychological and economic harm as a result of the parent’s involvement with the criminal justice system. Generally impoverished to begin with, most children of prisoners become even poorer upon their parents’ arrest, because their family has lost either a vital wage earner or a critical source of child support payments. What becomes of these children? How do we help them and break this cycle?
Volunteers of America is introducing a new, more holistic and more research-based approach to breaking the cycles of poverty and incarceration with its Look Up and Hope Initiative: Strengthening Families Affected by Incarceration program. This new national program is designed to support the long-term success of children and their incarcerated parent. Look Up and Hope and its partner congregations and organizations will offer prisoners, their children and the children’s caregivers a comprehensive array of coordinated, support services including vocational training and employment services; educational programming and support for all family members; cognitive behavior therapy; mental health and substance abuse treatment; group and family counseling; life-skills and parenting classes; caregiver support groups; graduated visitation opportunities; family-centered assessments; strengths-based service planning; and mentoring for all family members. Through such a complex, multimodal approach, Volunteers of America expects to empower its Look Up and Hopeparticipants with the skills, relationships, and resiliency they need to finally transcend the devastating effects of poverty and incarceration.
For more information please contact Amanda Mitchell at (312) 564-2414 or amitchell@voail.org