Community Spotlight: Connecting Through Literacy: Incarcerated Parents, Their Children, and Caregivers (CLICC)

The Justice Collaboratory (JC) has a long history of supporting CLICC, a Connecticut-based non-profit program that uses mentoring and literacy activities to strengthen communication and deepen bonds between children and their incarcerated parents.

The JC’s Executive Director Caroline Nobo served as its original program director in 2013, and is now a member of the CLICC board, along with JC Member Benjamin Justice. JC staff also support CLICC through grant management, recruiting for the mentor network, and hosting conferences at the law school. 

 In an effort to amplify the transformative work happening in our own backyard, The JC sat down with CLICC’s Executive Director Joy Haenlein to discuss how the organization engages and impacts communities across Connecticut. 

Q. What is CLICC’s mission?

Our goals are to decrease recidivism for the parents, reduce the difficult feelings their children can experience, and support a smoother transition for the family following the parent’s release from prison. 

CLICC mentors currently work every week with 100 mothers and fathers in six Connecticut state prisons. Thirty children have enrolled in CLICC literacy and mentoring. We also have begun virtual mentoring with children across the country who have incarcerated parents in Connecticut.

Q. How does CLICC’s model work?

In the simplest of terms, it’s a book club for children and their incarcerated parents – facilitated by a team of mentors. Children select books they’re excited to read, and at the same time their parent, who is incarcerated, also reads the book. Our trained mentors work simultaneously, but separately, with parents in prison and their children over the course of about one year.

Reading a book “together” is something special parents and children can do while they are apart. They have opportunities to have conversations about the book, increasing communication and strengthening the relationship between parents and children. Children can talk to their parents about the book by phone, in-person visit, video visits, write letters, or draw pictures.

Literacy programs and family support are known protective factors against recidivism for incarcerated people, and there is evidence that mentoring increases self-confidence and graduation rates for young people, along with other benefits. But to our knowledge, no one had ever thought to combine the approaches in one model.

Q. Why is this program important for children?

Children with incarcerated parents often experience social isolation. Sometimes teachers, peers, and coaches look at them differently—as if they will follow in their parents’ footsteps. There can be long term damage to the central nervous system, which can affect long term physical and mental health. The connection with mentors and parents can help address this sense of social isolation. We believe that introducing a positive model will lead to better physical and mental health over time.

A four-year evaluation by the Dr. James Conway from University of Connecticut showed that children who met with a CLICC mentor experienced fewer emotional, behavioral, attentional and relationship difficulties during their year with CLICC.

Q. Who are CLICC’s mentors?

I am especially proud of CLICC’s network of volunteers and mentors that includes students in criminal justice, social work, education, sociology from 14 Connecticut colleges and universities, including Yale.

Mentors and children meet weekly, one-to-one, at a library or other community site that is convenient for the child’s family for one year. A growing number of mentors and child participants meet online. Many mentors and families maintain their connection after the year ends.

Q. What is next for CLICC?

We’d like to conduct a whole-program evaluation to find out what we can about the effectiveness of three key features of CLICC: mentoring for parent and child; the same mentor meeting with incarcerated parents pre-and post-release; and using books selected by the children as the “hook” that encourages their communication. We’re curious, too, about how long the effects of CLICC mentoring last for parent and child.

 We also want to understand the impact of this program on CLICC community mentors, particularly those who work with children. Mentors have shared anecdotally that CLICC exposed them to a world, and a need, that influenced their career paths. Some criminal justice majors looked beyond traditional police or correctional officer jobs to juvenile services or nonprofit work. Law students pursued family law. Social workers found a passion for serving families impacted by the criminal legal system. We know this is happening and want to know more about how CLICC service shapes what mentors, in turn, bring to the world.

 Finally, caregivers for these children also become part of our service model. CLICC staff connects every week with child mentors and these caregivers to confirm mentor meetings and check in about the need for books and materials. These weekly “touches” over time become their own relationships, in which family celebrations and difficulties can be shared and referrals to resources offered.

 The children who participate in CLICC are loved and well cared for by these caregivers — almost always family members, and usually mothers or grandmothers and even great-grandmothers, many of whom did not expect to be caring for young children at this point in their lives. They are the glue holding families together under challenging circumstances, and we need to know more about how to support them.

 CLICC’s super-power is its ability to support all these distinct relationships toward the common goal of wellness and strength for families impacted by the criminal legal system and their wider communities as a whole.