Second Chance Act Family-Based Offender Program

Section 113 of the Second Chance Act provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of parents who are incarcerated as well as their families. Research has shown that children may benefit from maintaining healthy relationships with their incarcerated parents. Strong parent-child relationships may aid in children's adjustment to their parents' incarceration and help to mitigate many of the negative outcomes for children that are associated with parental incarceration. Maintaining contact also helps the incarcerated parent by improving the reentry process and reducing recidivism, which would likely benefit the child.

The Second Chance Act Family-Based Offender Substance Abuse Treatment Program is designed to provide prison-based substance abuse treatment and parenting programs for incarcerated parents (including non-custodial parents) of minor children, as well as treatment and other services to the participating offenders' minor children and family members. The goals are to increase public safety and reduce recidivism by providing more effective and successful reentry for offenders. The objective of this program is to provide comprehensive responses through planned, expanded, or implemented family-based substance abuse treatment programs.

Programming will target inmates with minor children and include services for these inmates, their minor children, and other family members. Grant funds are available for the development, implementation and expansion of family-based substance-abuse treatment programs for offenders who have minor children, and also includes outreach to families and provision of treatment and other services to children and other family members of participant offenders. However, as required by the Second Chance Act, these programs are unavailable for any such parent for whom there is reasonable evidence to believe engaged in domestic violence or child abuse.

The grant recipient will use the FY 2011 SCA grant funds to to enhance current programming, and provide services to repair family relationships, and address the clinical needs of the offender and family members. Targeted services will include family-focused case management, extensive visitation, family and relationship therapy, assistance with family legal matters, bonding/attachment therapy and child developmental assessments, and therapeutic services. The treatment will be provided to the families of 60 medium and high risk offenders with diagnosis of substance abuse/dependency who are lodged in Jackson County's correctional custodial facility.

CA/NCF