Developing better fathers goal of new ministry program

Alabama is one of four states selected to develop a program to help incarcerated men become better fathers.

Randall Turner, vice president of state and local initiatives with the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) in Gaithersburg, Md., said Alabama has received funding from the U.S. Justice Department for the training and implementation of the program. Turner made the announcement during a workshop called “Developing and Incarcerated Fathers Program” as part of the second Alabama Prison Ministry Conference Sept. 28-29 at Cathedral of the Cross church in Birmingham.

Texas, Indiana and Wisconsin have also been chosen for the program.

Turner said training is important in implementing the program. “The key thing is consistency and making sure each prison is running the same program,” he said.

Discussing the importance of supportive fathers, he said children with parents who are involved in their lives have higher self-esteem, make better grades and have better cognitive skills even as infants.

Turner added that children with supportive fathers also have lower levels of drug and alcohol abuse. “Men being in prison is one of the greatest father absences,” Turner said. “We want to reverse that.”

Turner said the program is designed to be facilitated by trained peer leaders in 12 weekly sessions in a small group format. The primary issues that are addressed:

• Having the inmate recognize and describe what he sees as positive family values;
• Having the inmate demonstrate as increased knowledge of parenting/family skills;
• Having the inmate identify realistic strategies for connecting with their families through increased contact as allowed;
• Having the inmate identify realistic strategies for fulfilling their responsibilities as fathers while confined and upon release;
• Helping inmates identify and describe the effects their behavior has on their families;
• Assisting inmates in the development of a “viable family integration plan;”
• Helping inmates identify and utilize positive skills for dealing with issues of loss, shame and guilt;
• Assuring inmates now how to communicate to their children the negative effects of incarceration, without glorifying any aspect of being an inmate or former convict.