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The Youngest Victims
Children who grow up with a father in prison often miss out on a positive father-child relationship. Scottie Barnes, whose own father served time when she was young, now works to mend and strengthen these relationships.
Scottie Barnes remembers visiting her father in prison on Sunday afternoons as a four-year old growing up in North Carolina, USA. “By the time I was in the 7th grade, I did not want my friends to know where I went every Sunday,” Scottie recalls. But it wasn‘t the embarrassment or even the prison environment that bothered Scottie the most; it was the lack of love she felt from her father. When he was released, several years later, he abandoned his family for another woman. She didn‘t see him again until she was in her twenties, but throughout that time she had continued to pray for him.
Memories of her painful childhood moved Scottie to work with prisoners and their children, in hopes of strengthening that fragile bond so easily broken by crime and imprisonment. In cooperation with Prison Fellowship USA, Scottie developed One Day with God, a programme that brings prisoners and their children together in a fun, relaxed environment. A room in the prison is colourfully decorated and special tee-shirts are provided for the children and their fathers. As the men come into the room, Scottie speaks to them of their responsibility as a parent and the importance of just saying I love you.‘ When the children arrive, led by Prison Fellowship volunteers, they meet their fathers and work together with them on various craft projects while enjoying pizza and cookies. After lunch the fathers present gifts to their children. Statistics indicate that inmates who maintain their family bonds are less likely to re-offend, but Scottie also knows how much this special day means to the children whose fathers are in prison.
