Children of Incarcerated Parents

I was very happy to come upon this link where Sesame Street did a short video of children visiting their parents in prison.  The video reminded me of the lost  look I saw on the faces of children each time I passed through visiting rooms when I worked in the prisons.  It was this look that prompted me to start the program, FAMILY LITERACY @ YOUR LIBRARY.http://prisonlibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/05/family-literacy-and-incarcerated-adults.html  It also prompted me to write an article titled "Reflections...". http://olos.ala.org/columns/?p=121 Children with parents in prison sometimes drop out of school,  end up in  gangs, in poverty, and become addicted to drugs. The USA has over 2.7 million children with a parent in prison.  As taxpayers,  we pay a tremendous amount  for mental health, drug addiction, incarceration.. I wonder when we as a society will get it that prison is not always the answer.

                                                     Inmates reading to their Children