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,
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.