Children of Inmates

December 5

There are many worthy opportunities to give and volunteer this holiday season. The Porter County “Children’s Christmas Gift Program” is one such opportunity. This program brings gifts to over 200 children whose parents are currently incarcerated. For children, when their parents go to prison they are really a victim of their parent's crime in the sense that they lose their parent. There's a lot of guilt and shame associated with being a prisoner's child. At the same time, for a lot of parents in prison, they carry a lot of guilt and shame because they realize what they've done had separated them with their child. The “hard time” affects the entire family not just the inmate.

Currently, an estimated 2.3 million children in America have a parent who is incarcerated. Their lives are filled with instability and uncertainty. The children themselves are victims of their own parent’s crimes and are potentially damaged by the sigma and shame of having a parent in jail. So the thinking goes, parents who break the law cannot possibly be good mothers or fathers, and their children are better off without them. Many parents who break the law can still be good, attentive and supportive parents.

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National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies

November 14

Quality and cost are the most important factors for parents when choosing child care, according to a nationwide survey of parents released today by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA). The report, The Economy’s Impact on Parents’ Choices and Perceptions about Child Care, surveyed 1,000 parents with young children on their perceptions about provider training, program inspections, and requirements for licensing, background checks and other child care issues. Parents were also asked about their attitudes toward public funding to increase the quality, availability and affordability of child care.

“For many families, the cost of quality child care is simply too high,“ said Linda Smith, Executive Director of NACCRRA. “In today’s economy, more parents are faced with having to choose unlicensed and unregulated child care settings in order to save money.”

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Developmental Testing

October 24

At birth, it seemed like sending your child to kindergarten was in the distant future. Most likely, you probably couldn’t even really imagine him or her as a five or six-year-old.

The concept of kindergarten (meaning “children’s garden” in German) came about in the 1830s, the brainchild of a German teacher named Friedrich Froebel. Its original purpose, according to Froebel, was basically to socialize children – to get them accustomed to interacting with others. It was designed to help kids smoothly make the transition from being at home all day to attending school. While this is still partially the purpose of kindergarten, it isn’t the entire focus any more. These days, the vast majority of children (almost 60%) have spent substantial amounts of time at preschools and day care centers before ever entering school, which means they already have experience in working and playing with other children, but is it the right kind of experience?

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Born Learning Trail

October 3

Learning happens everywhere a child goes, but parents, grandparents and caregivers may not always know how to support that learning.

That won’t be the case at the Fountain Meadows Butterfly Park on Campbell Street in Valparaiso. When Mom and Dad, Aunt Amy and Grandpa take their favorite young child to Fountain Meadows Butterfly Park now, they’ll be able to play even more fun games together that will help the child come to school ready to succeed.

That’s because the United Way Northwest Indiana United Way Success By 6 initiative created an outdoor interactive early learning trail leading to Butterfly Park to help parents, grandparents and caregivers turn excursions into fun learning moments.

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Grandparents As Caregivers

September 19

Are you a grandparent or other family member raising a relative’s child? You are not alone. Over 35,000 people in Indiana are caring for a relative’s child. The financial, legal, and emotional issues of raising a relative’s child can be challenging. Services and support when raising a relative’s child can be a lifesaver. Getting answers to questions and finding services, programs, and support can be confusing and overwhelming

Grandparents are an important resource for both parents and children. They routinely provide child care, financial assistance and emotional support. Occasionally they are called upon to provide much more including temporary or full time care and responsibility for their grandchildren.

This trend is due to: increasing numbers of single parent families, the high rate of divorce, teenage pregnancies, incarcerations of parents, substance abuse by parents, death or disability of parents, parental abuse and neglect, etc.

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