Mentoring Children of Prisoners: Issues, Concerns and Strategies: CD Description
Length: one hour
Type: audio-conference
Trainers: Ann Adalist-Estrin of Family and Corrections Network & Arlene Lee of the Federal Resource Center for Children of Prisoners.
Date: 6/23/04
Cost: $75
Synopsis: Ann and Arlene share strategies for mentors and trainers of mentors from their new publication, “Mentoring Children of Prisoners Curriculum.” Principles of effective mentoring will be applied to a variety of real life stories about children of prisoners.
When mentoring children of prisoners, agencies should have two priorities:
1. Equip mentors with realistic expectations.
How? Provide specific information about children of prisoners. Provide opportunities for mentors to examine their feelings, biases and perspectives about the children and their families through ongoing supervision.
2. Promote longevity of the mentoring relationship.
How? Provide avenues for involving the caregivers and incarcerated parents. Provide opportunities to practice communicating about difficult issues, building trust with caregivers and supporting the child’s relationship with the incarcerated parent.
This CD training addresses the issues and concerns that programs meet when planning and organizing to mentor children of prisoners. This training also reviews research on mentoring and mentoring children of prisoners.
In the last 5 years, mentoring programs have emerged from the shadows to the spotlight as part of an overall process of identifying strategies for responding to the needs of children of prisoners. Agencies and organizations, nationwide are developing mentoring programs for children of prisoners. They are adapting traditional mentoring programs to this population, designing new programs specifically focused on children of prisoners, or initiating collaborations with other programs and organizations to combine and blend services.
This training will help agencies organize and plan more effectively to mentor children of prisoners.