Ministries Go Beyond Bars to Help Children of Inmates

 Thousands of kids whose parents are in prison are receiving care—and hope

 

Jesus talked about visiting prisoners,
but what about the children of inmates? More than 1.7 million children
in the U.S. have an incarcerated parent, according to The Sentencing
Project, and most of them don’t get to see mom or dad. The number of
incarcerated women rose 57 percent between 1995 and 2005, the Bureau of
Justice Statistics reports, and 75 percent of those females are mothers.

But it gets worse: Children with
incarcerated parents tend to have antisocial behaviors. According to a
U.S. Senate report, these children are six times more likely to be
imprisoned sometime during their lives. Indeed, it’s not unusual for
inmates to have sons and daughters serving time in the same prison.

These stark realities are driving a new
breed of prison ministry—ministries that meet the unique needs of
children of inmates. Although these kids can be difficult to find,
ministries such as Children of Inmates, Child Evangelism Fellowship and
Prison Fellowship are making it their mission to meet the children’s
natural, emotional and spiritual needs and reconnect them with their
parents.

“We connect with children of inmates
through referrals, then we find out what their needs are,” says Linda
Freeman, executive director of Miami-based Peacemakers’ Children of
Inmates program. “Sometimes their caregiver doesn’t have food in the
home or can’t pay the electric bill. We try to address their immediate
critical need, then we try to help them get counseling. This year, we
took 280 kids to see their parents in prison.”

Child Evangelism Fellowship discovered
that the best way to find the 1.7 million children of inmates is to
visit the parents. Debbie Walsh, director of Prison Ministry for CEF,
visits about 40 prisons a year to talk with prisoners about what went
wrong in their lives. She gives them a booklet that explains the gospel
and offers to enroll them in a correspondence Bible program.

“People in prison are worried about
their children,” Walsh says. “We teach them to pray for their children
and to let their children know they are loved. The inmate can enroll
their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews in the Mailbox Club so
they can receive Bible lessons. The Word of God does not return void.”

Prison Fellowship reaches out to
children through its Angel Tree ministry, which connects incarcerated
parents with their children by delivering Christmas gifts. But the
ministry doesn’t end on Dec. 26. The Christmas connection aims to serve
as the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the children of inmates
and their families.

“We partner with 8,000 churches in our
work to help reconcile families. It starts with a Christmas gift to a
child on behalf of their incarcerated parent,” says Charles Rock,
national director of Angel Tree Programs. “The gift shows the kids they
are loved by parents who they have little contact with. But it also
opens the door for local church members to show the greatest gift of all
by delivering the good news of salvation.”