Parenting Inside Out Phase II: Expanding the Reach and Impact of Parent-Child Contact and Developing a Male Gender-Specific Risk Assessment Tool Inclusive of Parenting and Family-Engagement Needs for Incarcerated Fathers

Parenting Inside Out Phase II: Expanding the Reach and Impact of Parent-Child Contact and Developing a Male Gender-Specific Risk Assessment Tool Inclusive of Parenting and Family-Engagement Needs for Incarcerated Fathers” is an expansion and enhancement of PIO Phase II (PIO2), which received 2018 Second Chance Act funding.  PIO2 is based upon The Pathfinder Network’s (TPN) Parenting Inside Out® (PIO) curriculum, an evidence-based (on NREPP and CEBC) cognitive behavioral parenting skills curriculum developed for incarcerated and criminal-justice involved parents.  This grant project consists of both in-person and remote versions of PIO2 programming, which provides one-to-one coaching and parenting support, coached contacts/visits with their minor children, completion of a parenting reentry plan, annual family engagement events, and follow-up support upon program completion.  The Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) will lead the project with PIO2 program services delivered by TPN.  It will serve incarcerated parents with minor children in DOC’s Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (women) and the Oregon State Penitentiary (men) who have completed the PIO program with in-person services and programming, including group sessions, peer support, and opportunities to practice parenting skills during in-person enhanced visits.  In the remaining DOC institutions across the state, one-to-one parent skills coaching and programming focused on video visits with their children will be provided remotely to incarcerated parents.

In addition, this grant project will develop a gender-specific risk needs assessment tool for men that would help DOC, and by extension, other states, ensure father’s parenting and family-engagement needs are identified and adequately addressed in their case planning.

The goals of the program are to reduce recidivism, improve parenting skills, and prevent violent crime through identifying and addressing the needs for parenting programs and interventions, increasing positive family engagement, mitigating the impact of parental incarceration, enhancing safety in facilities, and developing and implementing responsive and individualized programming options that can be delivered in-person and remotely.  Program objectives include:  deliver enhanced parenting support services that will engage incarcerated parents with their minor children; help parents develop reentry parenting plans that are supported by ongoing wraparound support and follow up; support minor children of incarcerated parents through interactive visiting supplies, supportive materials, and referrals to community resources in order to support development of protective factors and reduce the social/emotional impact of having an incarcerated parent; provide positive family engagement opportunities; and provide trauma-informed emotional intelligence training for visitation security staff.