| The
Program
The Living Interactive Family
Education (LIFE) program is an enhanced visitation program at the
Potosi Correctional Center (PCC), a maximum security prison in
Mineral Point, Missouri. The LIFE program was developed jointly
between the incarcerated fathers and local 4-H staff to address
the needs of children of incarcerated parents. It is a partnership
between University Outreach and Extension and the Missouri
Department of Corrections. The program is supported by a New
Communities Project grant from the USDA-CREES Children, Youth and
Families At Risk (CYFAR) program. While planning for the LIFE
program began in late 1999, the first meetings were held in March
2000.
The LIFE program consists of two
main components: 4-H activities and parenting training. The 4-H
activities are held monthly at the correctional facility. These
meetings provide children and their incarcerated fathers with a
comfortable visitation atmosphere that is conducive to positive
physical and verbal interaction. At the monthly meetings, children
and their fathers work together on traditional 4-H club activities
such as arts and crafts projects and other curricula-based
activities that focus on subjects such as conflict resolution,
substance abuse resistance, teamwork, and character development.
By contrast, traditional visitation rules at the PCC require that
fathers limit physical contact with their children and that
fathers remain seated with their hands visible on the tabletop.
All fathers who participate in the
LIFE program also attend monthly parenting skills classes. The
parenting training component seeks to help fathers learn to be a
positive influence in their children's lives. Classes focus on
areas such as communication, anger management, teamwork, positive
discipline. The overall objective of the LIFE program is to
promote a strong, healthy, and nurturing family environment for
children of incarcerated parents, while helping incarcerated
parents become positive role models and mentors.
Program Participants
Membership in the LIFE program was
originally open only to fathers, grandfathers, and stepfathers who
are incarcerated at the PCC, their children and grandchildren, and
the legal guardians of the children and grandchildren. Eligibility
criteria were subsequently modified to "include incarcerated
men who have a significant role model relationship with nieces,
nephews, and other close relatives between the ages of four and
19" (LIFE Program Constitution and By-Laws, p. 2).
The members of the LIFE program
play an active role in managing the program. They developed the
formal program bylaws, which set strict rules for membership.
Potential LIFE participants are screened by current members to
ensure that they meet a range of admissions requirements:
participants cannot be sex offenders, they must not have committed
any serious institutional violations, and they must be drug free.
The LIFE program Executive Committee decides membership through a
voting process. The elected officers also perform a range of other
program-related responsibilities.
Contact:
Lynna J. Lawson, 4-H Youth Specialist
1 N. Washington Street
Farmington, Missouri 63640
Phone: 573-756-4539
Fax: 573-756-0412
Email: lawsonl@missouri.edu
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