Corrections_Today_July-August_2022_Vol.84_No.4

Correctional Chaplain Perspectives

the last couple of years that says if you can have a relationship between incarcerated parent and child, that’s great. It’s actually going to reduce that chance. And it goes back into the larger research that says that parental rejection [is harmful to the child]. It may not be the will of the parent to reject that child, but that relationship is gone. That’s another ACE. In this context, with this population, it’s im portant to build that relationship and be aware of its need and its causative factor with bad outcomes. It leads to negative school outcomes, mental health outcomes, incarcerative out comes. All of it’s connected.” Angel Tree camping and Angel Tree sports camps are also develop ing more ways to support ministry partners and provide more effective experiences and connections for Angel Tree families. This includes deepening training resources for partner camps, especially those designated “focus camps,” in which most campers are children with unique struggles, including children of incarcerated parents. In addition to providing up to $600 in scholar ship support for each Angel Tree camper, training resources based on TBRI ® , or Trust-Based Relational Intervention, are being developed at the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University. 7 Conclusion All these program develop ments are designed to impact not just children and caregivers outside of correctional institutions, but to provide ways for meaningful relationship-building throughout the loved one’s incarceration. Building

Photo courtesy Prison Fellowship

up families of those behind bars indi rectly—but powerfully—strengthens individuals who are incarcerated. Angel Tree resources, both historic and new, exist to support the impor tant work of correctional chaplaincy that ultimately can result in real life transformation. Endnotes 1 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2021. Parents in prison and their minor children. Survey of Prison Inmates. Retrieved from: https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/ pptmcspi16st.pdf 2 Bryant, E. 2021. More than 5 million children have had an incarcerated parent. Vera Institute of Justice. Retrieved from: https://www.vera.org/ news/more-than-5-million-children-have-had-an incarcerated-parent 3 La Vigne, N. 2014. The cost of keeping prisoners hundreds of miles from home. Urban Institute . Retrieved from: https://www.urban.org/ urban-wire/cost-keeping-prisoners-hundreds- miles-home 4 Sawyer, W. & Berton, W. 2022. Prisons and jails will separate millions of mothers from their children in 2022. Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved from: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/ blog/2022/05/04/mothers_day/ 5 Bernstein, N. 2005. All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated. New York: The New Press. Retrieved from: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781565849525

6 Harris, N. B... 2019. The deepest well: healing the long-term effects of childhood adversity. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved from: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-deepest well-nadine-burke-harris/1140825353 7 Purvis, K. 2013. Trust-Based Relational Intervention ® : Principles and Practices. Retrieved from: https://child.tcu.edu/about-us/tbri/#sthash. PYjuBWMX.dpbs

For more information about Angel Tree, go to: prisonfellowship.org/angeltree For more information about Floodlight, go to: prisonfellowship.org/floodlight For more information about The Storehouse, go to: prisonfellowship.org/storehouse

Jennifer Lowrey has been with Prison Fellowship for 15 years. Currently she serves as national director of the newly developed Floodlight ® program and The Storehouse ® .

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