Parental Incarceration is one of the incidents in life that can cause Adverse Childhood Experiences. There are many hidden consequences associated with parental Incarceration. The program aims to prevent the negative health outcomes by targeting the financial, social, emotional, and academic needs of the participants. Children tend to struggle with isolation, antisocial behavior, academic failure, psychological and economic hardships. We aim to serve the children living in Alachua county whose parents are incarcerated in Florida. We will also serve the incarcerated parents in a limited capacity. To address their needs, the program will provide financial assistance, reinforce healthy relationships between child and parent by fostering effective communication skills. Furthermore, the program will attend to their academic, social, and emotional wellbeing through our counseling and tutoring program. The program will be administered by a multidisciplinary team consisting of accountants, volunteers, social workers, counselors, and project coordinators. The program will be established on the public health framework, the CDC’s social-economical model, and the trauma-informed principles. The program hopes to provide relief, healing, and improve implications associated with parental incarceration. Our program incorporates the public health framework by focusing on the three different levels. In regards to prevention, we recognize the value of including social support as soon as a child experience parental incarceration. The program aligns with the Secondary level through the ACEs screening available through counseling. The third level is the main sector of our intervention because we provide resources that reduce the consequences of parental incarceration. Services like financial workshops, counseling, and mentorship program.
The intervention will also use the individual, interpersonal, relationship, and community levels of the CDC Social-Ecological Model to address the impact of ACEs due to parental imprisonment (CDC). In regards to the Trauma-informed principles, we will utilize safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment, voice, and choice, cultural, historical, and gender issues as our blueprint for the program.
Public health Framework
Our program incorporates the public health framework by focusing on the three different levels (O’Brien, 2018). In regards to prevention, we recognize the value of including social support as soon as a child experience parental incarceration (Turney & Goodsell, 2018). By providing social support we can prevent them from feeling isolated, prevent them from participating in high-risk behaviors and have communal support. The program aligns with the Secondary level through the ACEs screening available through counseling. With the Financial workshops available for families to connect them with resources by screening their financial needs. The third level is the main sector of our intervention because we provide resources that reduce the consequences of parental incarceration. Services like financial workshops for the impact of losing a parent to better assess the families with their financial needs. We strive to bridge the gap between families and children by assuring they have good communication skills. Coping skills are essential to treatment, and equipping them with healthy coping mechanisms is very critical to our program. Furthermore, the mentorship aspect of the program with tutoring services will enhance their academic performance. Overall, our intervention will be assessing a wide range of partners’ cross-sector and multi-level programs that will have a long-lasting impact on our participants.
Levels of the Social-Ecological Model
For the intervention, the CDC Social-Ecological model (CDC, 2020) will serve as our blueprint. The individual level will be the most pronounced in our proposal. The majority of the project activities will be centered around individual growth. The main goal of the program is to provide support for the kids who fall victim to parental incarceration. Therefore, services like educational support will aid the kids in their academic goals, help improve attendance grades, and direct them into a successful path. The social and emotional aspects of our program will also address interpersonal needs. By providing them support and mentorship assistance, they will learn how to cope with the changes and trauma that occur due to parental incarceration. At the relationship level, children can have a hard time understanding their emotions causing detachment issues and even difficulty creating relationships with their peers. Our program will aim to mend those gaps with the support groups and bonding activities. We will also strive to create and maintain a positive relationship with parents with visitation rights. Parents will be supported by the financial workshops, governmental assistance, and job searches we will execute to lessen family stress. On a community level, we will be providing mentorship programs with volunteers and tutors from the community that will impact them on a larger scale. At a community level, our academic program will increase attendance rates and academic hurdles that these children face due to the trauma
Trauma-Informed principles your Grant Will Utilize
The trauma-informed principles are critical to use in trauma prevention programs due to how prevalent ACEs and Trauma are (SAMHSA, 2014). In regards to safety, it is crucial that it's prominent throughout the different activities we will be administering. In circumstances like this where their safe zone has been disrupted, it is expected that they might experience a lack of security. Therefore, with our curriculum, we plan on creating relationships that serve as safe spaces. Additionally, when visiting their parent, we want to make sure they feel comfortable and welcoming.
The second principle Trustworthiness and transparency will also be addressed in our curriculum (SAMHSA, 2014). For instance, in the mentorship aspect of our program, we plan on implementing role models for the students, which is why our staff will consist of individuals who have been victims of parental incarceration. We hope the principle is highlighted in our emotional support groups as well. Transparency with the tutors and mentors can strengthen and enrich the relationship. We want to ensure the kids provide feedback to improve the services we offer. Our program is centered around peer and mutual self-help and that's reflected in our staff. Having counselors available for the staff for their emotional needs. Support groups and mentorships provide the peer support needed in our program. For Collaboration and mutuality, the program focuses on that principle by collaborating with similar programs in the community to strengthen our curriculum and learn from their strategies (SAMHSA, 2014). The different sections of training for the staff will be an opportunity for them to not only gain information but also to play an active role in project development. Empowerment, Voice, and Choice will be incorporating by our participants' input through the end of the year surveys for ways we can make changes and improve the program. Cultural, historical, and gender issues, will be incorporating through the different parts of training for our staff to be culturally aware and learn about diversity, equity, and well equipped to address issues concerning race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.
Reference:
O'Brien, C. (n.d.). Trauma-Informed Philanthropy, Volume 2. Retrieved from
https://www.pacesconnection.com...hilanthropy-volume-2
SAMHSA’s Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative. (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of
Trauma and for a Trauma-Informed Approach. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. file:///Users/djtriplett/Downloads/SAMHSA-1.pdf
The Social-Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention |Violence Prevention|Injury
Center|CDC. (2020, January 28). Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...ecologicalmodel.html
Turney, K., & Goodsell, R. (2018). Parental Incarceration and Childrens Wellbeing. The Future
of Children, 28(1), 147–164. doi: 10.1353/foc.2018.0007
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