Program Example

Through the Father to Child Program, fathers who are incarcerated at a North Carolina prison can regularly communicate with their children back in district of columbia. Every two weeks, the children go to Hope House in Washington, D.C. to see and talk to their fathers using internet technology. Hope House also runs a Father to Child Summer Camp, which brings children to prisons to spend a week with their fathers. The children are with their fathers in the prison each day for several hours. A staff of Hope House counselors guides them through crafts, drama, games, creative writing and other activities. Hope House currently hosts Summer Camps in prisons in Cumberland, MD, and in Winton, NC.

In addition to their visitation programs, Hope House also offers The Father to Child Reading Program and provides children's books for inmates to read into an audio tape recorder. When the recording is completed, the book (inscribed by the father) and the taped story are mailed to the inmate's child. Hope House offers this program in several federal and federal contract prisons. The Father to Child Reading Program is used by prisons as a companion to reading and literacy, parenting, and other education programs.