CENTER FOR CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS (CA)

Program Description
The Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents (CCIP), a nonprofit organization created in 1989 by Denise Johnston and Katherine Gabel, helps prevent repeated incarceration within families. Many of the products and activities of CCIP aid in the reentry process by focusing on family and the role that family plays in helping individuals who were formerly incarcerated to become successful members of the community. The activities, programs, and research conducted by CCIP focus on four areas: education, family reunification, therapeutic services, and information dissemination in order to increase awareness about children and families separated by incarceration.

• Education: CCIP began developing educational projects and materials in 1990 when it created the Prison Parents' Education Project. Since then, CCIP has conducted many other educational projects and produced 14 curricula that cover topics such as parent education for prisoners, parent empowerment, family life education, health education for incarcerated mothers, women's issues, mentor training, and parent advocacy for prisoners.
  
• Family Reunification: CCIP also provides family reunification services. The first client service was the Child Custody Advocacy Services Project, a national project that provides assistance to prisoners with child custody issues. CCIP also has many other projects that help with family reunification. The MotherRight and FatherRight Projects promote healthy sexuality, healthy reproduction, and healthy relationships among clients and their families. These projects are offered to parents in prison or on parole. Other CCIP projects have provided parent mentoring, family support services, and child and caregiver support groups.
  
• Therapeutic Services: The main project in this area is the Therapeutic Intervention Project, which provides therapeutic services to children of incarcerated parents in schools or other locations in a community. This project provides services such as group and individual therapy for children, parent advocacy meetings, parent/ caregiver support groups, parent education, case management, and services to teachers or other staff.
  
• Information: This area includes the CCIP Clearinghouse, training and technical assistance activities, research, and advocacy efforts.
  
  

Program Goals
The mission of CCIP is to prevent intergenerational crime and incarceration. Goals include the production of high-quality documentation on and the development of model services for children of criminal offenders and their families.

Outcomes
CCIP has conducted 15 major research projects since it was founded in 1989. For example, CCIP published a 1995 study on its Jailed Mothers Project (1990-91), which included demographic, criminal justice history, and family history data on mothers jailed at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside County, California. This study also covered the reentry challenges for these mothers.

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