Below are two examples of the way groups in Arizona are putting the BOR to use through a Care Givers Guide to Difficult Questions, and the Arizona Amachi Mentoring Coalition.
Family Members Behind Bars: Difficult Questions Children Ask...and Answers the Might Help.
(Arizona KARE Family Center, January 2011, 64 pages, Available in English and Spanish)
Pima Prevention Partnership
Mentoring Services and Support for Children of Incarcerated Parents
Background on the Arizona Amachi Mentoring Coalition
Problem: Large, and growing, population of children of incarcerated parents in Arizona
- Current demographic data demonstrate that Arizona has experienced a growing trend of incarceration of adults who are parents.
- On any given day, there are at least 100,000 children in Arizona who have a parent incarcerated in jail or prison and an additional 80,398 children of parents on probation or parole.
Risk factors for children of incarcerated parents:
- Children of incarcerated parents are 5 times more likely to enter the foster care system.
- Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to have serious mental health needs.
- Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to become incarcerated themselves.
Arizona Background on Children of Incarcerated Parents’ Issues
In collaboration with community, state and faith-based organizations over the past ten years, the Pima Prevention Partnership (PPP) has been working to complete local and statewide needs assessments and develop programs to serve children of incarcerated parents and their caregivers. In 2001, the National Institute of Corrections awarded the PPP one of four planning grants in the U.S. to assess the needs of this population in Pima County, and in 2007 the PPP completed a comprehensive report of the statewide Arizona Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights Project in which 250 individuals participated (http://thepartnership.us/newsite/pdfs/Final_report.pdf).
Since 2004, PPP’s STARS Mentoring Project has collaborated with Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations and the Arizona’s Children Association to provide mentoring services to over 1,315 children of incarcerated parents and support services to over 275 parents and kinship caregivers in Pima, Maricopa, Yavapai, and Coconino Counties resulting in:
- Best practice one-on-one mentoring for at least one hour each week;
- Identifying and addressing the unmet needs of the children of incarcerated parents; and
- Positive impacts on school attendance, school performance, parent/child interactions, delay the onset of drug/alcohol use, and improved self-efficacy.
Amachi Mentoring Coalition Project (AMCP)
January 2010, the PPP received additional support from Public/Private Ventures of Philadelphia to undertake the Amachi Mentoring Coalition Project (AMCP) to provide mentoring services for an additional 446 children of incarcerated parents, adjudicated youth, and children living in areas with higher than average incarceration rates. An essential component of AMCP is to establish the Arizona Amachi Mentoring Coalition to:
- Raise awareness of the impact of incarceration on children and youth in our state;
- Coordinate and improve services to children, youth, and families impacted by incarceration; and
- Advocate for financial and programmatic support for mentoring services for this population.
Arizona Statewide Amachi Mentoring Coalition will accomplish these goals by developing and executing an annual action plan, and by reaching out to additional members in the public and private sector to support its work. Arizona Amachi Mentoring Coalition must be comprised of at least one stakeholder from at least four of the following six areas: social service providers, community organizations, justice system, education system, private funders, and local government. Commitment must be documented by a memorandum of understanding. The Coalition will be chaired by Emily Jenkins, CEO of the Arizona Council of Human Services Providers.
Public/Private Ventures Amachi Mentoring Coalition Project is funded by the United States Department of Justice – Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Grant 2009-SC-B9-0118 – CFDA #16.808).
For additional information, please contact: Claire E. Scheuren, AMCP Statewide Coalition Project Director; Deputy Director, Pima Prevention Partnership (520) 791-2711 x1201; cscheuren@thepartnership.us.
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