The Family Strengthening Project (FSP) is designed to reduce the impact of incarceration on children of incarcerated parents by providing comprehensive services to incarcerated fathers and their families in the community. The FSP promotes responsible fatherhood by strengthening marriages and/or significant relationships, fostering healthy connections with children and increasing the family’s economic self-sufficiency. The FSP serves not only the incarcerated individual but the entire family simultaneously. The FSP is also unique in terms of early intervention (many families enroll within weeks after incarceration) and longevity of services offered (up to 2 years during incarceration and 1 year post-release). The FSP project design is based largely upon recommendations from the Children of Incarcerated Parents study, part of RDI, completed by the Council on Crime and Justice in January 2006.

Project services begin with a detailed family assessment at the time of intake to prison and continue with services extending to the incarcerated father and the family in the community.  The FSP works together with the family to recognize strengths, needs and ways to reduce the impact of incarceration.  The comprehensive services provided for the family include family case advocacy and support, educational classes in financial literacy, parenting and marriage/relationship strengthening as well as individual and couples counseling with a focus on family relationships.   In addition, the families are eligible for employment skills training and placement, one-on-one financial counseling, mentorship matching opportunities and comprehensive family unification and re-entry planning.

The FSP works together with a wide range of partners including the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC), Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), Goodwill Easter Seals Minnesota (G/ESM) and Auriton Solutions.  Together with these partners, the FSP works to strengthen families while promoting responsible fatherhood.

- Intervening early with a family experiencing incarceration;

- Strengthening commitment to marriage/relationships by building effective communication, parenting skills and conflict resolution skills;

- Improving both parents’ ability to support and foster healthy connections with their children during incarceration and upon release; and

- Increasing the family’s economic self-sufficiency to provide a stable base for continued growth.
Project Components

1) Distribute the Council’s Handbook for Families of Incarcerated Individuals, which details the process of incarceration from sentencing to re-entry.   The handbook also includes information about visitation, phone calls, DOC policies and regulations as well as an up-to-date resource guide for financial assistance, felony friendly employers and mentoring opportunities for children.

2) Administer comprehensive Family Strengthening Assessments.   These assessments include FACES IV (Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales) and The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems (David H. Olson, University of Minnesota).  For the family advocacy component of the project, the Council developed a Case Advocacy Needs Survey (CANS).  Together, these assessments enable early intervention, guide family counseling and help to create an individualized plan to strength the participating families.

3) Offer Individual Counseling with a focus on family relationships to both the incarcerated parent and the partner/family in the community simultaneously and then together in a couples setting upon release.

4) Offer Marriage/Relationship Strengthening Classes to participants in the DOC Facility and their community partner.

5) Offer Parenting Classes to participants in the DOC Facility and their community partner.

6) Offer Child Care and educational opportunities for children of incarcerated parents who attend the community classes with their parent.

7) Offer one-on-one Financial Literacy Education and Counseling to participants in the DOC Facility and their community partner.

8) Offer employment skills training services and employment placement and   retention services to participants – both in the community and upon release.

9) Provide both pre- and post-release case advocacy services and support to participants in the DOC Facility and their community partner simultaneously.

10) A 200+ page FSP Policies and Procedures Manual was created to guide all components of the project.