Help's on its way for 'invisible' children
Date published: 9/10/2007
I agree with Julia Steiny's op-ed ["Kids of parents in prison deserve a break," Aug. 30]. Rappahannock Big Brothers Big Sisters is under consideration for a grant administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to give children of incarcerated parents a well-deserved break by providing mentoring services to them.
Children with incarcerated parents are the most severely at-risk children in America. They often view prison as a rite of passage, and are five times more likely than other children to end up in prison.
Children of incarcerated parents--often referred to as "invisible children"--are vastly underserved in our community. We've determined that there are approximately 1,341 children of incarcerated parents living in our service area, Planning District 16. These are children who could benefit greatly from our services. One-on-one mentoring relationships like the ones that RBBBS supports have a direct, measurable, and lasting impact on children's lives.
In our program, 54 percent of the children demonstrated an increase in self-esteem, 39 percent increased their GPAs, 43 percent showed a decrease in discipline problems, and 40 percent showed an increase in positive relationships with their peers.
If we receive the grant, over the next three years we intend to match 300 new children of prisoners. We will create one-on-one relationships with carefully screened, caring adult mentors who will meet weekly in the community and in schools with children ages 4 to 18.
In this effort, we hope to collaborate with partners such as New Vision, Bragg Hill Family Life Center, and local faith communities.
We cannot do this alone. We need the support of our community. We need people to commit their time to helping these children. Together, as a community, we can give these kids a break.
Donna Boyd
King George
The writer is a mentoring coordinator with Rappahannock Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Date published: 9/10/2007
Most recent reader comments:
Grant?
(posted by
navyorchid
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
I'm not quite sure why a grant is needed. Aren't those serving as a Big Brother/Big Sister volunteering their time and wouldn't those mentors also be volunteering their time? Is the grant needed to pay those in the office serving as coordinators, etc? As a child, I had a college student assigned as a Big Sister to me so I am aware of the program and the great benefits. What concerns me is the administrative costs associated with these types of programs that prevent them reaching more needy children!
Wait..
(posted by
domsmom
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
What about the kids who have parents who are not in prison but are just absent because they don't feel it necessary to be a part of the life they helped bring into the world? I think that those children have the same issues as those with a parent who is incarcerated.
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