Strengthening Relationships between Young Fathers and Their Children Reentry Mentoring Program

The FY 2015 Second Chance Act Strengthening Relationships Between Young Fathers and Their Children: A Reentry Mentoring Project helps ensure that the transition young fathers make from secure confinement facilities back to their families and their communities is successful and promotes public safety. This program will fund mentoring and comprehensive transitional services, emphasizing developing parenting skills, to offenders who are young fathers. The goals of the program are to reduce recidivism among young fathers; improve outcomes for young fathers, their children, and family members; and promote responsible fatherhood. The objectives of this program are to provide young fathers with supportive mentoring and transitional services in both confinement and in the community based on and matched to their assessed risks and parenting needs that support their successful reentry.

Family ReEntry has had a successful 15 year history of providing pre-release and mentoring services to incarcerated youth and adults, as well as providing fatherhood and parenting programming. Family ReEntry will provide 50 young fathers with mentoring and transitional services in both confinement and as they transition back to their communities, based on and matched to their assessed risks and parenting needs that support their successful reentry. The program will target services to increase positive parenting behaviors. Transitional support services will begin with recruitment, assessment, and development of reentry and parenting plans for fathers while in confinement or out-of-home placement. Programming, case management and group format mentoring will begin during confinement, and appropriate transitions services will continue into the community. Upon release, the young fathers will: (1) participate in an evidence-base Fatherhood Program; (2) work directly with a case manager with expertise in fatherhood issues and reentry; (3) engage in a mentoring relationship with a specially trained mentor to assist with reentry and fatherhood; (4) receive specific services focused on educational attainment, job readiness, and employment; and (5) receive a range of appropriate reentry services from local reentry providers through the Bridgeport Reentry Collaborative.

CA/NCF