CONCORD, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Correction Family Connections Center (FCC) is announcing a new joint partnership with community and educational providers to assist children, parents and caregivers in the community who have loved ones in prison. Family Ties is a collaboration between the FCC, the University of New Hampshire Marriage and Family Therapy Program and Womankind Counseling Center.
Research shows when a child loses a parent to prison, the child can be traumatized by that loss. The purpose of the Family Ties collaborative grant is to increase support to children and caregivers at three stages: in the particularly stressful time early in the parent’s sentence, during incarceration, and when the parent re-enters the community. Family Ties will develop a network of family and child therapists to work collaboratively with these vulnerable families.
The goals of Family Ties are to strengthen communication between child, and the child’s parents and/or caregivers to increase emotional support; reduce painful symptoms related to emotional stress like nightmares, anxiety, overwhelming sadness or anger and shame; teach and practice specific coping skills that provide relief from worries or anger; and assess the need for longer term therapy with the parents and/or caretakers. The child and caregiver will meet with the counselor and the incarcerated parent will participate via the internet/televisiting.
The hope is that participation in Family Ties should lead to increased communication between the parent’s child and the child’s parent/caregivers. It will also provide coping skills that are taught to both caretakers and the child to assist with the symptoms of distress or anything else the child is feeling.
Any father who is an active participant in the FCC in one of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections and who has completed certain FCC classes can participate with their children. The hope is to expand to the NH Correctional Facility for Women later this year.
Completion of Family Ties will also enhance re-entry planning for the parents who will soon be released to the community.
The Family Connections Center is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2018. It is unique to the New Hampshire correctional system. It uses a strength-based approach to meet parents where they are at, to educate and support them, during their physical separation from their children due to incarceration. FCC connects the families left behind to family support programs in their communities, while creating healthy, fun activities for the children to participate with their incarcerated parent.
For more information about the Family Connections Center please visit our website.
