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CJA Blog > The Importance of Fathers
January 7, 2010
by CJA Admin
In a speech at the White House Fatherhood Town Hall last December, Attorney General Eric Holder talked about the importance of fathers – all fathers in the lives of their children. He said, “People sometimes make bad choices. As a result, they end up in prison or jail. But we can’t permit incarceration of a parent to punish an entire family.… Research reveals that incarcerated men who maintain strong family ties while behind bars are more successful when they are released. They have an easier time finding jobs and staying off drugs.”
He noted that there are a wide variety of needs present for men and women after their release from prison – housing, jobs, dealing with substance abuse and mental health problems – as well as family issues. He could have chosen to take a less comprehensive view on the problems at hand, but he didn’t. Family issues are an important part of the puzzle. Though a parenting program is just one component of a multimodal intervention to improve success after release, it is a potentially catalyzing component.
AG Holder cited Parenting Inside Out (PIO), CJA’s evidence-based parenting skills program when highlighting programs that contribute to successful reentry by helping criminal justice involved persons rebuild and strengthen family relationships. PIO is now being used in prisons and jails in Oregon, California, Arizona, Kansas and Pennsylvania. CJA continues to hear from both PIO coaches and from parents that it has helped them turn around their relationships with their children, and often, with their children’s caregivers.
In a study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment in 2007 (“The National Criminal Justice Treatment Practices Survey”), Dr. Faye Taxman of George Mason University shared her research on 400 programs used with criminal justice involved persons. She found the following elements were shared by all programs that achieve consistent results with this population:
· Are cognitive-behavioral based
· Are 6 to 12 months in duration
· Have a manualized curriculum
· Are taught by skilled staff
· Include 1) motivation to change, 2) social and interpersonal skills, and 3) develop natural supports (family, community)
· Use reinforcers
We were very excited to see these results as they validate the structure and content of the Parenting Inside Out program. PIO meets five of the six criteria and though it is three months in duration, many institutions have started ongoing parent support groups that extend the learning and practice of the behaviors and skills taught in the class.
We ontinue to work to spread the word about PIO. If you are interested in information about the program, please contact us.