THE STORYBOOK PROJECT

When parents are incarcerated, children also pay a price. Big Brothers Big Sisters tries to reconnect children with their incarcerated parents through the Storybook Project. Community volunteers work with parents in the jail setting by helping them choose a children’s book to read to their child on tape. The book and recording are then sent to the inmate’s child, free of charge. This provides a link between parent and child that may otherwise never be established; it lets the child know that the parent still cares and allows the child to hear their parents’ voice, something that can be rare when a parent is incarcerated. Parents report that their child often wears out the tape; volunteers remark that for some parents, it is the first time the parent has read to their child

Recent studies estimate that approximately 856,000 California children (9% of the children in the state) have a parent who is either incarcerated or on parole. These children are more apt to participate in high-risk behaviors themselves. Youth with incarcerated parents are 6 times more likely than their counterparts to become adjudicated or incarcerated themselves at some point in the lives. The Storybook project brings parents and children together to offset the damaging impact that incarceration can cause.

PLEASE DONATE TO HELP KEEP THIS PROJECT GOING: It takes approximately $2.00 per mailing/or per inmate and here is a list of our basic needs for this Project:

  1. Funds or stamps identified for this project,
  2. 15 – 30 minute blank tapes,
  3. large envelopes (81/2 X11),
  4. New or hardly used storybooks for children 1-15 years old
  5. Volunteers are needed to read with inmates one day a month or more as your time allows.
Please call Wendy on the Coast at 964-1228 or inland call Patti at 463-4809 Here is what a few of the parents had to say about Storybook:

"…it’s very rewarding, very emotional. It gives us a chance to get to read to our little ones so they don’t forget our voices." -Catherine

"I really enjoyed this program a lot. It filled an empty spot in my heart knowing that my children can still have their mommy." -Jasmine

"I think this program is very important to us parents and also the children. It helps to keep contact, and a more personal connection between the two." -William

"I think this is a wonderful program and I would like to be involved when I get out. I think this is a good way for children to become interested and to learn how to read." -Phyllis

This project originally started through the Mendocino Office of Education

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