Incarcerated Parents Project

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

The Incarcerated Parents Project (IPP) is a collaboration between a private non-profit organization with a long history of providing services to incarcerated men and women and their families, Friends Outside in Los Angeles County (FOLA), and two public organizations, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s (LASD) Century Regional Detention Facility (CRDF) (the women’s jail). The primary goal is to help incarcerated parents develop and maintain positive relationships with their children during and after incarceration. Implemented at CRDF in February 2010, IPP identified and placed a liaison (full-time case manager employed by FOLA) between DCFS and the LASD to assist incarcerated parents with participation in available services at CRDF. The project creates opportunities for improved and increased contact between parents and children, resulting in reduced recidivism. IPP also increases parents’ participation in jail-based services which increases their compliance with their DCFS case plans (e.g., Family Reunification). IPP staff conducts supervised visits, thus decreasing the need for social workers to conduct these visits. Finally, IPP assists the LASD in handling inmate requests or complaints from incarcerated parents who are in need of DCFS assistance.