SCI GRATERFORD FATHERS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER INITIATIVE

In 2012, a brilliant group of Thought Leaders at SCI Graterford, the largest male maximum security prison in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, designed and co-implemented a dynamic two-tiered parenting initiative – Fathers And Children Together (“FACT”) – under the banner of the United Community Action Network (“U-CAN”).  Members of U-CAN collaborated with the Latin American Cultural Exchange Organization (“LACEO”), an organization also located at SCI Graterford, in co-implementing the FACT Initiative.    U-CAN embarked on a mission to educate incarcerated men, through a series of powerful workshops, to become responsible Fathers and help them establish or, in some cases, re-establish a positive relationship with their child.   Members of U-CAN saw a direct connection between Fatherlessness, Intergenerational Incarceration, and the “school-to-prison” pipeline.   The FACT Initiative is a solution for ending Fatherlessness, effectively addressing Intergenerational Incarceration, and enhancing public safety.   The FACT Initiative is a thirteen (13) week program that culminates with a graduation ceremony that presents certificates to Fathers acknowledging their completion of the program.   During the first six (6) weeks of the program, Incarcerated Fathers receive intensive parenting training which includes co-parenting tools.  The next seven (7) weeks of the program bring together Incarcerated Fathers and their child on a weekly basis.  One evening each week for six (6) of the seven (7) weeks, Incarcerated Fathers and their child bond with one another, talk to each other, and participate in workshops together. Fathers and their child learn basic things about each other – their favorite colors, the foods they like to eat, and their favorite movies.  The seventh and final week of the program is reserved for the Fathers’ graduation ceremony.   Fathers who have completed the program receive a certificate in a ceremony which is attended by their children, their children’s mother or legal guardian, family members, the prison’s Superintendent, and community stakeholders.         Incarcerated Fathers participating in the FACT Initiative are carefully selected and vetted by members of U-CAN.    What are Incarcerated Fathers taught about parenting during the intensive six-week program which is conducted at SCI Graterford?

          The six-week program is divided into five sessions that occur twice a week for two hours from 1:00 P.M. through 3:00 P.M.:

          Session One:    An exploration of how Fatherless households impact families and how and why it is a causative factor for the plethora of problems plaguing the African American community is undertaken.

           Session Two:   Fathers learned how to become accountable and responsible parents.   The Men learned that they can demonstrate accountability and responsibility to their children by, as an example, checking their homework.  They learned that accountability and responsibility is about deeds and not words.

          Session Three:   The importance of education and talking to their child about education was explored with Fathers.   The Fathers were also told that upon their release from prison that it was important to meet their child’s principal and play a proactive role in their child’s education, by among other things, reviewing their child’s homework.

          Session Four:   This segment of the six-week parenting program entitled, “Bonding,” pointed out to Fathers that they were not taught how to bond with their child because many of them did not have Fathers in their lives.   The Fathers learned that bonding with their child helped them as parents to find and know their child’s strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and how to build a better relationship with them.  

          Session Five:  This segment of the six-week parenting program, entitled “Love/Self Worth,” constituted the final parenting workshop for the Fathers.   Fathers came away from this session with the clear understanding that they will need to help their child develop his or her self-worth and that it was their – the Fathers’ – responsibility to ensure that their child understands that he or she is worth much more than what they see every day in their community.  Love was defined for the Fathers as a verb – an “action” word.   The Fathers were told that parenting involves utilizing their listening skills; teaching their child how to love through their actions; and showing their child that they loved them by, among other things, supporting and listening to them.