A program that offers parental support services to incarcerated mothers will soon be available to men held at the state prison in Newport. It’s the first time the program will be offered to incarcerated fathers in Vermont.
The Kids-A-Part Parenting Program, run by the social services organization Lund, has operated in the women’s prison since 2011. It offers parenting classes, case management, and helps facilitate visits between parents and their children.
“The Kids-A-Part Parenting Program has really helped strengthen bonds among incarcerated mothers and their children,” Jon Murad, interim commissioner of the Department of Corrections, said in a written statement. “By expanding Lund’s program to the Northern State, we can improve these critical family relationships for incarcerated dads, as well — after all, fathers are parents, too.”
The expansion to Northern State Correctional Facility came after state legislation passed this year requiring parenting and family support at all Vermont prisons. The plan is to bring the program to all state prisons eventually, but that will depend on funding, said Kim Laroche, director of parent child center services at Lund.
“We are very much looking forward to the opportunity to close that gender parity to allow for fathers who are incarcerated to visit with their children in the Kids-A-Part space,” Laroche said in a recent interview.
Northern State Correctional Facility was selected as the first men’s prison to host the program because people held there tend to remain there, Laroche said.
The expanded program will offer the same services as what’s offered at the women’s facility, though some aspects, like in-person visits, might look a little different.
At Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, the women’s facility, there’s a room set aside for parent-child visits. At Northern State Correctional Facility, the visits will be in the normal visiting room. But Laroche said they’ll find ways to make the space “softer.”
“We will bring in those child-friendly engagement opportunities and activities, whether it be a truck to ride on, games, books, activities,” Laroche said.
The corrections department was already paying Lund $290,000 to run the Kids-A-Part program at the women’s facility. The expansion to Newport will cost the department an additional $240,000 a year, Laroche said. Lund is in the process of hiring two people to staff the program in Newport.
The case manager at the women’s facility supports about 50 mothers a month, but Laroche said she’s not sure what the caseload will be in Newport.
“It depends on the needs of incarcerated fathers, which may be different than what incarcerated mothers need,” she said. “There's not a target number. It depends on what the need is, and we'll meet it.”
