The STARS Mentoring Program is collaboration continues to provide “best practice mentoring” with case management services as well as additional specialized training for volunteer mentors working with children of incarcerated parents.

Representatives from the Arizona Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters met in March with representatives of the Governor’s Office. They presented a formal request for community support in applying for Foundation Grants.

In May, many of our STARS BBBS collaborators met in Phoenix with a federal representative of the MCP grant to share our best practices. It is quite an achievement that our AZ STARS Mentoring Program was chosen as an exemplary program (one of six grantees across the country) to be studied in order to replicate promising practices. After learning of our STARS collaborators’ functions, the recruiting, screening, training, matching, ongoing services, and internal assessment policies and practices, the federal representative was highly impressed. She stated that we were “light years beyond” a number of other grantees.

Also, Susan Stewart-Rickelman showed a mentor recruitment video that Yavapai BBBS is producing. It has been helpful to PPP in development of two STARS recruitment videos to be filmed this month.

The Partnership is now working with Dennis Woods, Director of Corporate Video Solutions, in order to produce two promotional videos for STARS mentoring, to be used in all regions for STARS mentor recruitment purposes.

Maricopa and Pima Counties
Working Groups from both counties contributed to the revision of local resource pamphlets for new caretakers of children of prisoners (CIP). Currently, these pamphlets titled, “Are You Taking Care of Someone Else’s Children?” are being translated into Spanish. Copies will soon be available for distribution and also The Partnership Web site will include downloading options.

Currently, members of Tucson Law Enforcement are filming the training module regarding steps AZ LE officers can take to attend to children at time of adult arrests. This is an exciting development from the AZ Children of Prisoners Bill of Rights Project!

Staff members from The Partnership/STARS and The K.A.R.E. Family Center in Tucson are currently working to finalize a Resource Kit for dissemination by law enforcement officers in Pima County. This will be a detailed reference guide of current services that will benefit new caregivers of CIP from the moment they take custody. Information will address immediate needs such as: 1) how to access emergency assistance for food, clothing, and health care 2) where to get information on laws regarding custody and guardianship 3) signs of emotional trauma and possible physical and psychological effects of parental incarceration and how to cope with them 4) how to answer children’s questions to reduce feelings of guilt, insecurity, and helplessness.

This Resource Kit will include state-level services and programs, yet be customized for Pima County. The guide will be published in English and Spanish to maximize its effectiveness. At the time of arrest, law enforcement personnel will be able to give it to new caregivers. This tool will improve the children’s transition into a new caregiver’s custody.

Coconino County

In February, Bryon Matsuda and Diedra Silbert, of Juvenile Court, and Kay McKay, of Flagstaff Big Brothers Big Sisters, presented to their local Criminal Justice Coordinating Council on the issues related to CIP and the need for a local response. They shared data from the AZ CIP Bill of Rights Report as well as a personal story about a CUO who has been mentored by a BBBS Flagstaff mentor who belongs to the CJCC. They requested that the group authorize an official task force to make recommendations back to the CJCC about what needs to occur in the region.

In July, the first Children of Prisoners Task Force meeting was a rousing success. It’s a broader group than the Coconino work group was, in terms of the agencies and ethnicities represented. Also, a few people on board have themselves experienced some of the issues, including a parolee who’s a mother, a mother who has several children and a husband in prison, and a father whose son was in prison. They expect to add more agencies because people at the meeting suggested them. And they’re planning to add several CIP as well.

Yavapai County

Yavapai County Working Group discontinued meeting after they selected a local agency that would be an excellent candidate to “piggy back” services if funds for CIP Family Crisis Intervention services ever became available.