Preschools in Prison
Through funding, Keiki O Ka Aina works with a mentoring liaison who works within the prison system to coordinate our efforts to provide a preschool program as well as support services to the incarcerated parents. Presently Keiki O Ka Aina provides a preschool program in the Women's Community Correctional Center and the Waiawa Men's Correctional Facility.

Mother and daughters decorating easter egg baskets at the Women's Correctional Facility Kids Day

With our HIPPY program, care givers work with the child during the week on curriculum and then once a week, the incarcerated parent gets to do "homework" with the child during their visit in the prison preschool. The parent gets to help support their child's education and the child gets to spend meaningful one on one time learning with their parent.

Currently in the prison system, inmates do not have full body contact visitation. With the help of our program, parents are able to hug and play with the children in the preschools at Waiawa and the Women's Correctional Center. Keeping family relationships and bonds in tact and ready to be nourished when prisoners are released is integral to the well being of the child and our program. Mentoring Children

The Mentoring Children portion of our services provides children of incarcerated parents with a mentor who is committed to spending one hour each week with their child for a minimum of a year. Our mentors take the children out to parks, family gatherings and to activities

Mentor Micah with Ashley and Austin

that care givers may not be able to afford on an already stretched budget. This past holiday season, in conjunction with Lokahi, Keiki O Ka Aina was able to give mentors and their children Christmas parties with gifts and also a special whale watching cruise on the Navatek.

They also participate in monthly group activities with other children of incarcerated parents which enables them to interact and be introduced to children who are going through the same feeling of loss and sadness that they may be experiencing. Although costly and not funded yet, being able to provide these group meetings/outings are a way to show these children that they are not alone in their struggles and that it is ok to talk about their parent's incarceration. Support for Care givers
We have expanded our services to provide parenting support groups for the care givers during the visitation time each week where the children do HIPPY and Parent Participation Preschool with their incarcerated parent. Care givers meet together and talk about the various issues they may be struggling with and it gives our agency an opportunity to refer them to resources in the community to help them.

We also partner with various community groups to provide donations to these families. We have been able to deliver used furniture, toys, and clothes and even help to pay for small incidentals like children's school photos and field trips which can be a financial burden on some of our care givers. Some of the families that we work with are struggling to make ends meet with the responsibility of caring for another child, sometimes two, three or even four children.

National research has shown that mentoring a child of an incarcerated parent reverses the dramatic statistics that exist for these children. With a comprehensive approach including support for the parents, the care givers and the child we hope to not just reverse the statistics for the child, but to make the lives of all involved dramatically better, achieving long term positive effects for all concerned.

SKIP Mentor Resources FORMS Application Pre Interview Questionnaire Mentor Interest Survey Paperwork Packet PDF only-869kb

 A Woman's Voice

 The National Incarcerated Parents and Families Network

 Google links for Children of Incarcerated Parents in Hawaii