Long Distance Dads program helps inmates become more involved, supportive fathers

By Denise Sinclair
06-19-2007

These inmates are fathers taking part in a Long Distance Dads and Fatherhood Program at the Childersburg Work Release Center. Teaching the class is Ollie Kates, Outreach case manager with Sylacauga Alliance for Family Enhancement, who conducts the program. Also shown are Jaye Hand, left, drug treatment counselor who helps with the program, and Warden Ronald Huntley.
CHILDERSBURG � A 27-year-old Birmingham man with 11 children wants them to accept him as their father when he gets out of prison. He wants to be involved in their lives.

One way he is learning to become more involved and supportive is through a prison curriculum at the Childersburg Work Release Center and through the Sylacauga Alliance for Family Enhancement�s Fatherhood Program.

Both these programs reach out to non-custodial fathers in an effort to help them develop skills to become better fathers.

Teaching the class at the prison is Ollie Kates, Outreach case manager for SAFE. He has been doing this not only at the Work Release Center but at the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega.

The primary purpose and goal of the fatherhood initiative is to reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect by empowering non-custodial fathers to increase their self-esteem and their self-confidence in being effective fathers.

Long Distance Dads Program of the National Fatherhood Initiative is a character-based education and support program for men who are incarcerated. The program was developed for inmates at the State Correctional Institution at Albion in Pennsylvania, said Jaye Hand, drug treatment counselor, inmate liaison and employee assistance person at Childersburg.

Hand and Malinda Carter, also a drug treatment counselor at Childersburg, work with the program and Kates.

Hand said the Long Distance Dads Program was started in 2000.

To be in the program, an inmate must have a 90-day clearance of discipline time to participate. It is a 12 week-program and is voluntary.

The theme for the program is �Connecting Family Ties.� It is an effort to keep inmates connected to their families, she said.

Kates said he inserts his Fatherhood Program ideas into the Long Distance Dads Program. �I use their curriculum but share my fatherhood thoughts.

Kates said the fathers learn to adopt solutions and alternatives to solving problems, learn to connect with their children and provide financial support.

Long Distance Dads focuses on universal aspects of fatherhood, as well as the unique challenges faced by incarcerated fathers.

The program helps inmates to recognize and describe positive family values; demonstrate an increased knowledge of parenting and family relationship skills; identify realistic strategies for connecting with their families through appropriate contact; identify strategies for fulfilling their responsibilities as fathers while confined and upon release; identify and describe the effects that their behavior and incarceration have on their families; and more.

Kates said the program works. �They aren�t at home with their kids, but they can shorten the distance they are away from them while in prison by calling them or writing to them. It is just a short connection between them and their kids. We talk about communications from the point of them talking back and forth to their children. These guys are benefiting from it and there is a love connection they can make even while in prison,� he said.

Kates said they are encouraged to make good choices once they are out to connect to their families and build strong relationships with children and their mothers.

Hand told the inmates they know what they are suppose to do and that is to stay a part of their children�s lives.

Childersburg Work Release Center Warden Rodney Huntley said he was involved with the program at Donaldson Prison in West Jefferson County.

�The prison system supports this program and so do I. I�ve seen fathers and sons in prisons. Fathers have a job to do, just as mothers do. This program may help stem the tide by stopping these fathers and offering them the opportunity to reconnect with the families. We want these fathers to succeed to become involved in their children�s lives. I believe this program does,� Huntley said.

The 27-year-old from Birmingham with 11 children said he has learned through the program how to listen and to show love. He wants to take the program again.

He said his dad wasn�t around much as he was growing up. �I said I wasn�t going to be like him. Then I started having kids. I question will my kids accept me when I get back. Mr. Kates taught us �I can�. �I� stands for involvement, �c� for consistency, �a� for awareness and �n� for nurturing. I want to be consistent in what I do and be aware of what my children are doing,� he said.

The young man already has a job lined up once he gets out of prison.

Another 27-year-old with two children said he has enjoyed the program and it has helped him a lot. �My little girl was less than 1 when I came here. Now she is nearly 2 and I can�t wait to see her when she comes to visit, to here her say �da-da�,� he said.

He said the fatherhood program helped him stay in contact with her. �I worried she wouldn�t know me. I talk to her on the phone. I wait for her to show up for visits.�

He said he didn�t have a great relationship with his son or his mother, but he was working on it.

�You�ve got to respect the mother of your children, so they will respect you,� he said.

A 30-year-old father of five said the program has meant a lot to him. �I was ashamed after I came to prison. This program has given me tools to go back to teach them, repair the bridges I burned and move forward. This is the greatest opportunity to be able to go back to my children.

One father of 29 with five children said he didn�t know his kids until he came to prison. �Just getting to know them after I came to prison, they have me on their mind while I�m here. We play games on the phone. I have taught them how to give them things to do outside while I�m here,� he said.

All of these men have graduated from the program.

Kates is scheduled to start a new program at the Boot Camp at Childersburg, which is part of the center through SAFE.

He will begin teaching the �Caring For My Family/Together We Can� curriculum that coincides with the new Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative that is being initiated in Sylacauga under the auspices of SAFE. This curriculum is also designed to build self-esteem.

The Healthy Marriage Initiative through SAFE offers several programs addressing premarital education and marriage enhancement. These programs are free to the public.

Statistics show that children from healthy marriages perform better in school. Unhealthy relationships and marriages raise delinquency rates among youth. Children from healthy marriages are physically and emotionally healthier.

Linda Dickson, who is working with this new initiative, said Alabama has the sixth highest divorce rate in the country and Talladega County ranks first in the state.

For more information on the Fatherhood Program or other programs such as the Healthy Marriage Initiative, contact SAFE at 256-245-4343.

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