Organization in Lancaster County offering support to children with incarcerated parents

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Empty beds in a jail cell.

Aired; November 25th, 2024.

Ambassadors for Hope is the only organization in Lancaster County with the sole function of supporting children as soon as the parent of a child is incarcerated.

“In addition to having a website with some educational resources, we are also reviewing children’s book books that deal with parental incarceration so that we can make recommendations to school counselors, folks that are working with kids that have experienced parental incarceration. The family services advocate can give each child that she works with an age-appropriate book that deals with this subject. And the books all have a message of competency and resiliency so that the child knows I’m not alone in dealing with this, “said Mary Glazier, Vice Chair of Ambassadors for Hope.

The program also offers teddy bears for children of incarcerated parents with their parents’ voices in them. Ambassadors for hope have gifted over 300 teddy bears to children in the past five years.

“And let me tell you, children of all ages love a teddy bear that has their parents voice in it. And, you know, that’s one of the most popular things, “said Glazier.

Ambassadors for Hope also collaborate with other local organizations to advocate for children of incarcerated parents in Lancaster County. One of those organizations is Compass Mark. A program based on federal and state strategies for substance use and gambling prevention and follow a public health model of balancing risk factors with protective factors, or strengths.

Terry Miller- Landon, Director of Programs for Compass Mark says they conduct research of that shares that will best support families dealing with incarceration.

“We know that parental incarceration can impact behavior, for example. So, we’re available to consult with schools. And we do we do try to make sure that school social workers are aware that we’re here so that they are kind of keeping that extra eye if they know that a child’s parent has been incarcerated and if that child needs to get referred to counseling or something, because there are some predictable things that happen when they’re feeling that family fracturing, “said Terry Miller-Landon.