Helping Parents in Prison Connect with their Children

By Wesley Fryer On August 26, 2011 · · Add Comment

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Oklahoma has the highest incarceration rate for women in the United States. Of women in Oklahoma prisons, 85% are mothers or grandmothers. Oklahoma has the 4th highest incarceration rate for men in the United States, and many of these guys are dads also. 28,000 children in Oklahoma don’t have one of their parents at home now because of incarceration. If there is not intervention in the lives of these children by the time they enter sixth grade, studies show 70% of children of incarcerated parents will eventually go to prison themselves. This is a tragic cycle and one we must work together on multiple fronts to end.

Redeeming the Family is an Oklahoma non-profit modeled after “The Messages Project” started by Carolyn LeCroy. Both are prison outreach projects which help parents in prison record video messages that are sent home to their children. Redeeming the Family executive director, Cheri Fuller, has worked with moms in Oklahoma prisons who have not seen their children for four, ten, and even fifteen years. The following six minute video provides an overview of this outreach compelling ministry.

Count your blessings, hug your children, and consider financially supporting “Redeeming the Family.”

Full disclosure: Cheri is a member of our church and asked me to help create DVD versions of this video and post it to YouTube.

Technorati Tags: children, kids, oklahoma, outreach, prison, ministry, parents, mom, dad, cheri, fuller

If you're trying to listen to a podcast episode and it's not working, check this status page. (Wes is migrating his podcasts to Amazon S3 for hosting.) Remember to follow Wesley Fryer on Twitter (@wfryer), Facebook and Google+. Also "like" Wesley's Facebook pages for "Speed of Creativity Learning" and his eBook, "Playing with Media." Don't miss Wesley's latest technology integration project, "Mapping Media to the Common Core / Curriculum."