Every Child Deserves to Know Their Father

Some facts:

- 1 in 28 children in America currently have a parent incarcerated in either jail or prison

- There are currently over 1 million parents incarcerated in the United States. 92% are fathers

- Children who experience parental incarceration are almost 50% more likely to engage in delinquent activity than children who do not have a prison in jail or prison

- Incarcerated fathers who receive visits from their children are less likely to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety during their imprisonment and less likely to engage in criminal activity upon release

- 95% of individuals in prison will return to the community. In order to successfully reintegrate into society, familial bonds are needed to increase stakes in conventional society and provide a healthy support network


Fathers and Children Together (FACT) is a unique prison-based fatherhood program that uses a two-generation approach to the prevention of child delinquency and fathers’ criminality. The program was conceived in 2012 after an individual with a life sentence, Sam Brown, got word in prison that his son had been murdered on the streets. Rather than seeking retribution, Sam felt the need to try and break the chain of violence. He believed not being in his son's life played a role in his son's murder and felt that a stronger father-child bond could have saved his son's life. Understanding how paternal incarceration can negatively impact children, with a group of others with life sentences, Sam created FACT. 

FACT consists of 6 weeks of core sessions titled (a) the Impact of a Fatherless Household, (b) Accountability and Responsibility, (c) Attachment and Bonding, (d) the Importance of Education, (e) Self-Love and Self-Worth, and (f) Positive and Negative Reinforcement. These sessions are facilitated by incarcerated men in the prison and the content within the curriculum focuses on empowerment, the collateral consequences of incarceration, missing or inadequate family relationships, empathy, and trust. 

Once the classes have wrapped up, the children then come up to the prison for 6 consecutive weeks of enhanced visits. Here, the fathers get the opportunity to directly apply the skills they’ve learned in the program. The men and children meet together once a week for 6 consecutive weeks in a classroom-style setting and engage in structured activities that promote communication, team-building, and quality time. They do art projects and yoga, and interact with guest speakers, such as representatives from the Philadelphia School District. 

During the father-child visits, the children’s caregivers attend community-based group sessions facilitated by external team members where they are able to create a support network of similarly situated women and discuss any difficulties they may be having related to the father’s incarceration. After the 6 weeks of visits, there is a beautiful graduation ceremony that includes the caregivers, the children, the fathers, and members of the external team.

In order to maintain the bonds facilitated through FACT, the program also offers bi-monthly enhanced visits for all fathers and children who have participated in FACT at no cost to the families. FACT also offers a Back-to-School Initiative once a year where all FACT children come up to the prison and go "shopping" with their dads for school supplies that are donated by various organizations.

Since 2012, FACT has graduated 11 cohorts reaching a total of almost 200 incarcerated fathers housed at S.C.I. Phoenix (originally S.C.I. Graterford). Despite the fact that the prison is located only about 36 miles outside of Philadelphia, many of the children who participate in FACT had not seen their fathers in over 2 years because of distance and cost. Throughout the visits, the children often speak to the importance of getting to know their fathers. By interacting in a group setting, the children are able to see that they are not alone and are able to relate to children in similar situations. The fathers are also able to create a family of men who are equally dedicated to their children and bettering themselves for the sake of their families.

In order to keep this program going and enable incarcerated fathers to continue to be involved in their children’s lives, we need your help. Your donations would go towards transportation for the children to get to the prison, meals that the fathers and children share together at each visit, art supplies, school supplies that the fathers gift their children, t-shirts that the children get to keep as a reminder of the experience, and more.