Earlier this week, Shonda posted a comment:
I am so grateful for WISN On Assignment: Is Milwaukee At The Tipping Point. There were several important issues mentioned in this news program that influenced my decision to provide some solutions on reducing crime, poverty, single parent households, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS awareness & prevention, and truancy issues. The article, “What a Difference Dad Makes” reported that 70% of household in certain zip codes in the inner city of Milwaukee has an absence of fathers. The article went on to say that father absence is correlated to a host of health and social detriment for children. In the Wisconsin Prison Systems, Men of Color, represent an astonishing percentage of the population. As a way to get the message out to these men about the importance of family values, and two parent households, I would like to suggest that the Criminal Justice System implement internal programs which require mandatory participation in educational courses. I believe that the Criminal Justice System is a great place to start when addressing the issues mentioned in “Milwaukee At The Tipping Point” since a huge majority of the targeted group is represented in Wisconsin’s prisons and jails. Education is the key. Once these men are provided with pertinent information pertaining to the importance of quality of life issues, we will see an increase in the number of father’s playing an active role in the lives of their children.
The Parenting Network agrees with Shonda’s assertion that reaching out to incarcerated fathers is a way of increasing father involvement in Milwaukee. The Parenting Network facilitates several sections of InsideOut Dad, a twelve-week curriculum for incarcerated dads, at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility and the Franklin House of Corrections.
Tom Weber, Program Director and Parent Educator at The Parenting Network, responds to Shonda’s comments:
Certainly in the discussion of absentee fathers there needs to be the promotion of education for dads who are incarcerated. By the sheer fact of their incarceration, assumptions are made that they do not, or choose not, to take their fathering responsibilities seriously. This is frequently not the case at all. Through a program that The Parenting Network is providing at several jail/prison facilities entitled InsideOut Dad, men are being asked to examine what it means to be a man and what it means to be a “Dad.” Through this program, and others like it, men are able to consider the impact they and their behaviors have on their children. The experience of those who facilitate these groups indicates that the majority of the men have either had no positive male role model or often no male role model from which to learn how to be a positive parent. For many, the concept of being a “Dad” has no meaning, for they have never had a pattern to follow. Many of these men relate the loss they feel in not having closeness to their fathers. Often this loss, whether recognized or not, leads these men into negative activities, as they attempt to find acceptance and belonging. When men are brought face- to-face with these facts, most are saddened and some react in anger; anger towards those who were supposed to have loved them and shirked that responsibility. Once this step is taken, these men are open to finding ways to avoid repeating this with their children. Education within the criminal justice system as The Parenting Network is doing leads men to look to the future for themselves and their children.
