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Family & Corrections Network |
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October 10-12, 1993 Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
PROJECT SEEK: (SERVICES TO ENABLE AND EMPOWER KIDS)/ Un programme de prevention pour les enfants de detenus: le projet SEEK Carol Burton-Barnett, Project Coordinator 806 Tuuri Place, Mott Children's Health Center, Flint, Michigan 48503 (313) 767-5750 Cynthia Cameron, Program Evaluator Michigan Department of Mental Health Prevention Services 3rd Floor, Lewis Cass Building, Lansing, Michigan 48913 (517) 335-0123 Cet expose decrit l'elaboration du programme pilote intitule "Project SEEK", dont l'objet est de reduire les probabilites pour les enfants de criminels de devenir a leur tour des criminels. Y figurent, avec leur fonction, les prestataires de services, les comites directeurs locaux et d'Etat et le departement de la Sante mentale. Des instruments d'evaluation sont egalement presentes. Project SEEK - Services to Enable and Empower Kids - is a comprehensive and innovative demonstration prevention project serving children with a parent in prison. It is co-sponsored by the Departments of Mental Health, Social Services and Corrections, with the Department of Mental Health as the lead agency. The project is being undertaken by Mott Children's Health Center under contract with Genesee County Community Mental Health. State and local interagency committees meet regularly to facilitate interagency collaboration, monitor program progress, and assist with resource development. Long term goal: -to break the intergenerational cycle of criminal behavior. Short term goals: -to promote optimal cognitive, emotional, social and physical development of the children -to increase family stability -to promote positive parenting -to maintain the parent-child relationship while the inmate in incarcerated (when appropriate) -to assist with issues of reintegration at the time of the inmate's release. Population served: Children under 11 years of age at the time their parent is incarcerated who live in Genesee County and have a parent in state prison whose minimum sentence is no longer than seven years. Program model: The program uses a home-based outreach model which provides wraparound services for families including the following: -case management -support groups for children -support groups for caregivers -tutoring -training in problem solving techniques -facilitating communication with the inmate parent -advocating for children and caregivers with other service systems -parent training for inmates The support groups for children are one of the essential components of the program. These groups focus on problem-solving skills, open expression and labeling of feelings, cultural and ethnic promotion, life survival skills and violence prevention. Findings to date: Characteristics: The children of inmates are living in poverty; 80% of families have an annual household income below $10,000. There is history of criminal behavior in the family; 70% of families report extended family members have been incarcerated (grandparents, aunts, uncles) in addition to the inmate parent. Outcomes: The program is successful in improving the home environment for children of inmates. -For most of the families, crisis issues related to unmet basic needs can be resolved within a few months while issues such as chemical dependency and parenting skills require more time for resolution. -Service group families experience fewer stressors and are more stable than control group families. The program has a positive impact on issues related to behavior, cognitive development and school success. When compared to children not receiving program services, Project SEEK children -are rated less hostile and angry by their teachers -are perceived as having a higher level of cognitive skills by their parents -score higher on academic self-esteem -change schools less often than control group -are more likely to be promoted to the next grade -view their teachers as being more supportive PROJECT SEEK, Interim Report (Michigan Department of Mental Health, Prevention Services, 6/92) Project SEEK - Services to Enable and Empower Kids - is a comprehensive and innovative prevention program serving children with a perent in prison, co-sponsored by the Departments of Mental Health, Social Services and Corrections, and funded by Mental Health and Social Services. The project was initiated as a pilot demonstration in Genesee County in December 1988, to establish a service model that could be replicated elsewhere in the state. The project is being undertaken by Mott Children's Health Center under contract with Genessee County Community Mental Health, with support from state and local integrity committees. Summary. The following are significant facts about Project SEEK: The project is designed to break the cycle of intergenerational criminality by providing support and reducing stress for families and children, improving discipline and limit-setting, increasing pro-social behavior and improving school performance. Project SEEK is unique in that it primarily works with children who have fathers in prison, a population that has been neglected by researchers and program planners. The project is staffed by a coordinator, four intervention staff, a part time secretary and a data collector. Average case load is 22 families. Average project cost/year per family served is estimated at $2,500.00 - cost per child is about $1,600.00 Families of prisoners are poorly connected to human services. For families participating in Project SEEK, concerns about basic needs and social support are reduced first; improvement in behaviour related to chemical dependency, parenting, and the caregiver's mental health takes much longer. Project SEEK has made gains for families and children in meeting crisis needs, increasing stability, and in improving cognitive performance for children. Additional analyses of program effectiveness will be available in 1993. Program Model: Referrals. Project SEEK receives referrals from the Genesee County Adult Probation Office. When a person is sentenced to state prison in Genesee County, with a minimum sentence of no more than seven years, and has children under 11 years of age, the family is referred to Project SEEK. The annual number of referrals have almost doubled since the first year of the project, from 91 in 1989 to 168 in 1991. Recruitment and Participation. Once the names of children have been received, project staff try to locate them. Because inmates do not always supply the correct or most recent address of the children, and the families are highly mobile, the process of location the children is often slow and tedious. If the given address is incorrect, requests may be made to Genesee County DSS, Probate Court and directly to the inmate to try and find the current address for the family. Thus far 70% of children who where living with the inmate prior the incarceration and 42% of children who were not residing with the inmate parent have been located. Of the families located, 80% chose to participate in the program. Goals. The long-term goal of Project SEEK is to break the intergenerational cycle of criminal behaviour. The specific short-term objectives are: 1. Promote cognitive development and school success of children 2. Promote emotional well-being of children 3. Promote social competency of children 4. Promote physical well-being of children 5. Increase family stability 6. Increase the ability of caregivers to access services and meet basic needs 7. Promote positive parenting by caregivers 8. Promote psychological well-being of caregivers 9. Maintain the parent-child relationship while the inmate is incarcerated (when appropriate) 10. Assist with issues of reintegration at the time of the inmate's release Intervention. Several MDMH Prevention Services models have been incorporated to meet the diverse needs of the families participating in Project SEEK. Components of Infant Mental Health, School Success, Children of Disordered Adults and Stress Management Training programs were combined resulting in an outreach model which provides wraparound services for these families. Project Specialists act as a stable support person through home visiting, case management, support groups for children and for caregivers, tutoring, training in problem solving, techniques, facilitating communication with the inmate when appropriate, and advocating for the children and caregiver with other service systems. Health services from Mott Children's Health Center are available. The project has some flexible funding to provide for crisis and special needs when other funding is not available. The support groups for children are one of the essential components of the program. These groups focus on problem-solving skills, open expression and labeling of feelings, cultural and ethnic promotion, and life survival skills. Children from 5 - 10 years of age meet weekly during the school year. Meals and transportation are provided to encourage attendance. Description of the Population: Inmates. Of the 405 prisoners identified by Adult Probation, 90% of the offenders are male and 69% are black. The inmates have low education levels, with only 25% being high school graduates. Slightly more than 80% are known substance abusers, with 19% identified as drug users, 12% as alcohol abusers, and 50% abusers of both drug and alcohol. The majority of offenses for the present conviction are for three categories of criminal activity; cocaine related offenses (31%), breaking and entering (12%), and assault (9%). Family Criminal History: For many of the families participating in Project SEEK, having a family member incarcerated is not a new experience. Almost 80% of the inmates has a previous criminal history, with 45% having previous felony convictions. Nearly 45% were first arrested when they were less than 18 years of age. In 18.4% of the families, both parents have a criminal record, in 72% only fathers, and 7.6% only mothers. In almost 70% of the families, extended family members have been incarcerated, with 25% of the children having grandparents and 53.3% having aunts and uncles who have a criminal record. The number of relatives who have been arrested or incarcerated for each family ranges from one to 18. The total number of arrests for all family members ranges from one to 49, with the mean number of arrests being 10.6 per family (See Figure 1). The Families. While families from all of Genesee County are eligible to participate in Project SEEK, 81% live within the City of Flint. Most of the children participating in Project SEEK are living with their mothers. Grandmothers, great grandmothers and aunts act as caregivers in 13% of the families, and in one family, the father is the caregiver. In 60% of the families, the inmate was living in the same home as the child prior to incarceration. Many of the children in these families are very young, with 38.4% being infants through three years of age. The Children. The children participating in Project SEEK are often aggressive and difficult to discipline. Fifty-seven per cent of caregivers stated that they had difficulty controlling the child's behaviour and 61% stated they feared that the child would get hurt, or in trouble. Caregivers rate 23% of the children as undisciplined and having poor self-control (Personality Inventory for Children). Of the children who attend school, 36% were rated by their teachers as behaving in a hostile manner in the classroom (Child and Adolescent Adjustment Profile). Poverty. In almost 80% of the families, annual household income is below $10,000. Because of this, families experience many stressors related to meeting family needs: 84% report that they do not have enough money to buy necessities, 58% do not have available transportation, 53% state they are unable to buy appropriate clothing for their families, 37% have difficulty buying enough food, and 34% report they live in unsafe neighbourhoods. Instability. Place of residence and household membership is ever-changing for many of these families. Six months after intake, 48% of the families reported they have moved in the last year, 45% reported a new member had been added to the household and 34% stated that a household member had moved out. Eleven percent of the children had moved in with new caregivers. Evaluation Design The effectiveness of Project Seek is being evaluated using an experimental design. Each referral is assigned to the service or control group, based on the last digit of the social security number of the prisoners. Of the 405 referrals from Adult Probation, 208 have been assigned to the service group and 197 to the control group. Service group families receive the full range of Project SEEK services, and control group families are given information on how to obtain the regular services offered by Mott Children's Health Center. Data collection. Data are collected from caretakers, children and teachers at intake, 6 months after intake, 12 months after intake and yearly thereafter. A total of 85 service families with 140 children and 52 control families with 84 children have participated in pretest data collection. Additional data on service families and children are collected from project specialists, who rate the change in their level of concern over issues every three months as they work with families. In addition, the number of contacts and services provided are being tracked. Variables. The evaluation design is comprehensive and complex because of the wide age range of children involved. In general, the evaluation is designed to measure both family and child level variables. Family variables range from mother-infant attachment and cognitive development for the youngest children to school performance, aggressive behaviour, depression and self-concept for the older children. At this time, methods of gathering data on antisocial activity of program participants as they reach adolescence are being developed. Preliminary Evaluation Results The Objective/Problems Checklist, developed by DMH, is completed by staff on service group families only. The Checklist is designed to identify the problems families are experiencing, and to guide the project specialist in developing a service plan for the participants. Families and children are rated on the severity of problems at intake and every three months thereafter. Families are scored on 5 subscales: Basic Needs, Home Environment, Social Support, Parenting and Caregiver's Psychological Well-being, Children are rated on Relationship with Caregiver, Emotional Well-being, Physical Well-Being, Cognitive Development, Social Competency, School Performance and Relationship with Inmate. Each item is rated according to the following scale: 0=no concern 1=some concern 2=significant concern 3=severe concern By examining the difference between the highest score on an item and the most recent score, it is possible to assess the progress being made in problem areas. To date, Objective/Problems Checklists data are available for 80 families, and 133 children. Only the family level data are discussed in this report. A key to the items on the family portion of the checklist is attached. Figure 2 (not available) displays the change in the percentage of families experiencing problems over times for families who have been in service 12 months or less, 13-24 months, and 25 to 36 months. The total length of the bar (solid plus patterned area) represents the percentage of families with a high score of 2 or 3 at any time since intake. The solid portion of the bar shows the percentage of families with a score of 2 or 3 as of March 1992. The following conclusions can be drawn: -For the majority of families in the project, staff report concern about finances (A1), transportation (A4) and household goods (A5), parenting skills (D1-4) and the caregiver's psychological well-being (E1-4). -Within a relatively short time, concerns about basic needs and social support decrease dramatically. -Concerns about chemical dependency (B3), parenting (D1-4) and caregiver's psychological well-being (E1-4) do not diminish substantially until a family has participated is the program for over two years. In general, these graphs show early improvement in meeting basic needs and social support, but that it takes much longer to reduce problems in parenting skills and the caregiver's psychological well-being. Comparison of Service and Control Children. While only a cursory analysis of the data comparing service and control groups has been completed, results are promising, especially in the area of cognitive development and school performance: -Service group caregivers rated children as having higher cognitive skills than did control group caregivers at 6 and 12 months. -When controlling for gender, service group children scored significantly higher on academic self-esteem than control group children at 12 months. -The mean number of times service group children changed schools was significantly fewer than control group children one year after intake. Anecdotal Material. Attached is an anecdotal summary of services and outcomes for one family. Of particular interest are the situations where children's needs were being overlooked. For example, the project has been responsible for getting a 7-year old enrolled in school for the first time and linking non-verbal, aggressive two-year old twins to services which developed their language and social skills Current and Future Activity Developing and implementing a pilot program to serve children of incarcerated parents has been a challenge to both the state and local levels. While many of the obstacles have been overcome, new issues continually arise that must be solved creatively. At the present time, four initiatives are in process. 1. Because additional funding is needed to maintain the Genesee County project, the feasibility of using Medicaid funds for case management services is being explored. 2. The role of the local steering committee was to establish collaborative relationships between human service agencies in order to facilitate the implementation of program services. Expansion of the membership to include community leaders outside the human service system is planned as a way to access additional resources within the community. 3. As the participants reach adolescence, it is necessary to devise a way to collect data on their antisocial activity and involvement with the criminal justice system. The program evaluator is obtaining input from a panel of three adolescents in developing this phase of the evaluation. 4. Many attempts have been made to provide parenting classes for caregivers, but attendance at group sessions has been poor. Project specialists are now being trained to use the parenting materials recently developed by Cooperative Extension, Building Strong Families. These materials can be used one on one during home visits and address the issues of child development, learning through play and controlling behaviour. The final reports will include the following: -Description and analysis of services provided to families. -Analysis of cost of project services. -Analysis of Objectives/Problems Checklist data for families and children. -Extensive anecdotal material. -Differences in families and children when inmate was or was not living with the family prior to incarceration. -Differences in families and children when there was or was not an extensive family history in criminal activity. -Full comparison of outcomes for service and control groups, and correlation with other factors. -Recommendations for future directions. -Development of a procedures manual. PROJECT SEEK (CASE # 0076) This family has participated in Project SEEK since September, 1989. At that time, the young black mother of four boys was 23 years old. The boys were seven years, five years, three years, and four months. Each of the four boys has a different father. The family qualified for Project SEEK because the father of the youngest child was sentenced to prison at the time. The father had not lived with the family prior to incarceration. When worker met family, it was discovered that the father of the oldest child was also in prison, and the father of the second child has just been released from prison. Mother alleges that the third child's father is a city police officer. Basic Needs Initial concerns of family were mostly financial. Mother had an eviction notice the first month she was in the program; she also has Consumer's Power turned off. Because the AFDC grant allows a minimal living, accessing community agencies for these needs plus food and personal needs was a priority: -Project SEEK has been able to help her avoid eviction and maintain utilities -Mother has maintained the same address for the past three years -Mother has learned to use community agencies and food commodity programs to help stretch her budget -Concerns have gradually changed from financial ones to parenting and emotional. Parenting Mother had just regained custody of the boys at the time of the intervention. She had a drug abuse problem and had not been able to keep children for more than a few months at a time. Stabilizing the financial situation has been very positive. -Mother has been able to maintain custody of all children to date. -Mother is also eager for parenting information. She enjoys talking about children and trying suggestions given by worker. -Mother responds positively to praise by worker. Worker has encouraged mother to look at each child as an individual. -Behaviour changes when using positive reinforcement by mother and worker have been wonderful. Worker takes boys to library as a reward for good behaviour. Trips to donut shop are looked forward to by all, also outings to the park are fun activities. Cognitive Development At time of intervention, mother disclosed to worker that her drug use continued throughout her first trimester of last pregnancy. Recently, she has admitted to drug use into her eighth month of pregnancy. This honesty has led to discussions on possible special educational needs for youngest child. The oldest boys are verbal and do well in school getting all A's and B's on report cards. The youngest is also verbal but due to mother's drug use may face some challenges in school. Worker has supplied mother and child with lots of activities geared to stimulate cognitive skills. She is receptive to all information. Worker follows new literature carefully for techniques to try. Movement toward Self-Sufficiency -Mother is now attending school and will soon have her high school diploma. She is bright and eager to learn. Worker finds as many opportunities to praise and give encouragement as possible. The now, more mature, 26-year-old mother of four is looking forward to a drug-free future with a job, possibly "helping people." Prognosis The boys now 10 years, 8 years, 6 years and 3 years are cute and eager to learn. There will still be problems as family is growing and changing. Mother has put three years of hard work into maintaining family and it is worker's belief that with continued support and guidance, she will continue to be successful. Continuing goals for family include better understanding of child development and stress management. Effects of drug use many be long lasting but being aware and ready to deal with problems as they occur should make problems easier to overcome. KEY to Objectives/Problem (O/P) Checklist Items A. Basic Needs A1. Finances A2. Housing A3. Nutrition A4. Transportation A5. Furniture, Supplies, Clothing A6. Health Care A7. Employmen B. Home Environment B1. Safety B2. Stability B3. Chemical Dependency B4. Adult Role Models C. Social Support C1. Family and Friends C2. Helping Agences C3. Geographic/Cultural Isolation D. Parenting D1. Knowledge of Child Development D2. Expectations about Behaviour D3. Setting Limits for Behaviour D4. Promotion of Growth/Development E. Caregiver's Psychological Well-Being E1. Emotional Distress E2. Denial of Problems E3. Problem Solving Skills E4. Self-esteem |
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