First Half FY19: Due to this program being new under the Community Partnership Grant, there was extensive preparation that needed to occur before implementation.  In order for Family Junction, partner facilitating the “Parenting Inside Out” program, to begin the program, a parent educator needed to be hired.  Advertising, interviewing and candidate selection occurred in September and October of 2018.  After hiring a qualified candidate (start date October 25, 2018), she had to attend security trainings for the Detention Center before she was vetted to work in the center.  After successful completion of the security trainings, she had to arrange an office and classroom area to effectively instruct incarcerated parents.  In addition, the “Parenting Inside Out (PIO)” training programs for instructors is only offered specific times throughout the year.   The next available online training was scheduled for December 2018.  Two parent educators (new hire and current parent educator) successfully completed the online training.  After completion, the full curriculum was mailed to the Family Junction.  The first Parenting Inside Out class has been scheduled for January 2019.  In addition to instructor training, preparation also included program advertising.  Advertising to spark interest for the program was conducted within the Detention Center via information flyers being posted throughout the building.  After advertising the program, several individuals signed up.  At that point, the parent educator conducted intake appointments to ascertain their parenting interests, needs and time allowed for interaction with their child(ren).  Conducting the intakes has been worthwhile.  Intakes have allowed for therapeutic interaction between incarcerated parents and educators and have allowed time to identify qualifications for the program that were not originally acknowledged (geographic location and security issues).  The program started with twenty-five (25) inquiries/intakes, fifteen (15) individuals are enrolled.  Out of the twenty-five (25), eleven (11) individuals could not be enrolled due to:

• Geographic location – Two (2) of the incarcerated parents were Federal inmates having only a short stay at the Detention Center.  In addition, neither individual had any family contact.
• Security/Disciplinary Issues – One (1) of the individuals was a registered sex offender.  The Parenting Inside Out program protocol defines that sex offenders cannot participate in parenting programs unless they participate in a concurrent psychological treatment for their sex offense.  Another individual received disciplinary action due to hostile behavior.  If his behavior improves and he is released from disciplinary action, he will be eligible to begin next session.
• Early Release – Seven (7) individuals were released prior to program start.  Of the seven (7), four (4) individuals were scheduled to be in the program but were unexpectedly released early for Christmas.  Even though they could not be enrolled, all individuals were provided with contact information for Family Junction, should they desire to seek parenting services outside of detention.  One (1) individual scheduled an appointment with Family Function prior to her release.

Second Half Fy19:  Restructuring of the program occured after the first half of the year, by training additional staff and revisisions to the original budget to accommodate changes.  The first Parenting Inside Out (PIO) class was held on February 5, 2019 and continued through March 28, 2019.  Classes were held twice per week, with only male inmates (no female interest), and only five sessions were completed due to releases, relocations or disciplinary lockdowns.  Recruitment continued, in addition to program development including meetings with Detention Center staff, new flyers and changes to enrollment guidelines.  Staff also reached out to the Drug Court and State's Attorney's office to introduce them to the program and determine how the program can meet the needs of their incarcerated clients.  The new educators dedicate many hours to planning program sessions, previewing videos, reviewing program materials, and practicing role-playing scenarios to enhance the curriculum, which is broad in scope.  The second classes began the week of April 16, 2019, with males on Tuesdays and females on Thursdays.  Classes have been well received, with comments such as "they look forward to the classes", "I really enjoy class" and "this class helps me see parenting in a new light".  One participant in particular stated that the lesson on "Effective Listening" has really helped when she speaks with family.  She always felt as if she was not being heard, she has now learned how to deal with the situation in a more positive way which has helped communication with her family.  The interactive role-playing activities help the participants by reinforcing the techniques they are learning.  

One of the major challenges of the program is the participants are often released, transferred or placed in disciplinary lockdown which does not allow for completion of the program.  To combat this we have developed an open group policy - meaning participants can join at any point in the series.  Should a participant join in the middle of a series, they would cycle through until all classes are completed.  This allows for increased attendance rates and higher success rate.  Due to the first series ending prematurely and the second series still taking place, no parenting sress-scale assessments have taken place.  These will be evaluated in the second year.  Another challenge has been a relocation of the class within the detention center.  Due to expansion of the Jail Substance Abuse Progam (JSAP), the parenting classes were moved to another location, which needed new tables, chairs and other materials to effectively offer the class.  

In response to an independant evaluation of the program, staff have decided to emphasize the life skills and communication components of the program and offer the class to step-parents, grandparents, parents of adult children, and soon to be parents.   These changes should prove to be beneficial to the program and reach a larger audience moving forward. 

Second Half FY19: Parenting Inside Out Classes:
A total of 17 males were enrolled in the PIO classes.  12 of which withdrew for various reasons (5 early release, 1 elected to participate in work release, 6 left for unknown reasons-court,transfers etc).  

A total of 12 females were enrolled in the PIO Classes.  Currently there is only 3 active participants.  9 participants withdrew from class for various reasons (3 disciplinary actions, 5 early release, 1 is unknown)  After several classes where people were not in attendance, we asked the housing unit officer why many of the individuals have missed classes, She reported illness, disciplinary action, quit because they felt they were too old and class did not pertain to them, and some refused to get out of bed.