Program connects kids with incarcerated parents, resources after release

By SARAH HURWITZ

Click here for updates on this story

    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — A new program is connecting kids with their incarcerated parents through virtual visits.

It’s called Know Me Now, an initiative through local nonprofit The Contingent.

28-year-old Ti’Yana Clay who spent two and a half years at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility is one of those who used the program.

“Like sometimes I don’t even think about that I was in prison,” Clay said. “Like I don’t even think about it, but it’s like that’s the place that I would never want to go back to.”

While in prison, Clay didn’t want to lose touch with her three kids.

“It was very emotional to the fact like you know like them growing and me not being there,” Clay said.

Through virtual visits, the Know Me Now program made that connection possible while she was serving time.

“It was exciting you know to even still be in the type of place that I was and still have some type of communication to you know people that you love, so it’s just it’s a special feeling,” Clay said.

She was able to catch up with her kids on a regular basis.

“With my oldest we’ll talk about a whole bunch of different stuff. He’ll tell me how his day was at school; he’s always talking about girls, and I don’t want to hear that but I just let him talk about it.” Clay said. “And then as far as my 3-year-old he was not talking as much as he is now. So, like now it’s just crazy like you just talked so much from when I was in prison, cause’ you were not saying half the stuff you’re saying now.”

Over the phone Clay’s 11-year-old son Chris shared how he missed his mom while she was in prison.

“When I’m at grandma’s house I got bored and I wished that my mom was there,” he said.

“That’s a feeling you can’t explain like it’s hard, and like it’s just like I said it’s more just around them thinking like maybe you abandoned them, or you don’t love them,” Clay said. “And it’s like that’s not the case this is why I’m here and it’s because I made these decisions and that’s the only thing that you can explain to your kids.”

At an office in north Portland, five stations are set up for visitations.

Kids and their guardian or social worker will come in to use the stations, where they get a face-to-face virtual visit with their incarcerated parent.

“It’s super important because parents who are incarcerated, they should have a chance to be a parent to their kid,” Know Me Now Director of Community Engagement, Hosheman Brown said.

Brown says the program launched in February 2020, originally with the intent of in-person visits transporting kids within a 65-mile radius to visit with their incarcerated parent.

But Covid changed that, in turn opening up more opportunities for connection.

Brown says the Department of Corrections (DOC) allowed the program to have kiosks in all 14 correctional facilities in Oregon.

“These kids they want to see their parents, just because you go to incarceration doesn’t mean you can’t be a parent,” Brown said. “And so that’s what we’re trying to give these parents and these kids an opportunity to build that relationship.”

But this program goes beyond helping kids stay connected with their incarcerated parents.

It also provides crucial resources and guidance for parents when they’re released, with access to groups who work with them on a number of things including jobs and housing.

“Our tag line says: as I was, as I am as I can be,” Brown said. “You know we’ve all made mistakes; we’ve all done things we’re not proud of but our program gets people an opportunity for redemption to get their lives back on track and really be the person that they were meant to be.”

Brown says the program aims to build a sense of community support for life after prison.

“These adults will be returning home to their community,” Brown said. “And they will be your neighbors and we want to be proactive about it. We want to be able to build that sense of support, community support so when these adults come home they can look and say hey these people, someone cares about me.”

The Know Me Now program is working with the Department of Corrections and when someone enters prison Brown says they can fill out an intake form for the program.

It’s then evaluated to determine who enters the program.

Brown says the program is looking for volunteers to work with incarcerated parents who’ve recently been released from prison.

He says the program is looking for volunteers specifically from communities of color because of the disproportionate number of Black and Brown people who are incarcerated.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.