Follows two young boys as they visit their dad in prison for the first time and explains the emotions they feel and the situations they encounter during their visit.
A simple, sensitively written exploration of having a parent in prison. Dad's gone away for a while, but I don't understand why. I miss him. Children with a parent in prison often feel isolated, ashamed - unable to talk about their situation because they are scared of being bullied and judged. They often feel that they are to blame and having a parent in prison marks them as an outcast.
When someone you love goes to jail, you might feel lost, scared, and even mad. What do you do? No matter who your loved one is, this story can help you through the tough times.
"Written by an ex-con. Endorsed by PhD's, school principals and judges. Awesome book with an inspiring message: You are loved and you will get through this." -BERT BURYKILL, Vice Magazine There are nearly three million adults in the U.S. alone that are in prison or jail. Many of these being parents that leave behind unanswered questions with their children: What is jail? Why did this happen? Is it my fault? Is my daddy (or mommy) bad? Do they love me? My Daddy's in Jail is a story of two bears who have a father in prison. The book is narrated by a very odd cockroach.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NBCC John Leonard Prize Finalist Indie Bestseller “This is a book people will be talking about forever.” —Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed “Ford’s wrenchingly brilliant memoir is truly a classic in the making. The writing is so richly observed and so suffused with love and yearning that I kept forgetting to breathe while reading it.” —John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author One of the most prominent voices of her generation debuts with an extraordinarily powerful memoir: the story of a childhood defined by the looming absence of her incarcerated father. Through poverty, adolescence, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley C. Ford wishes she could turn to her father for hope and encouragement. There are just a few problems: he’s in prison, and she doesn’t know what he did to end up there. She doesn’t know how to deal with the incessant worries that keep her up at night, or how to handle the changes in her body that draw unwanted attention from men. In her search for unconditional love, Ashley begins dating a boy her mother hates. When the relationship turns sour, he assaults her. Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley desperately searches for meaning in the chaos. Then, her grandmother reveals the truth about her father’s incarceration . . . and Ashley’s entire world is turned upside down. Somebody’s Daughter steps into the world of growing up a poor Black girl in Indiana with a family fragmented by incarceration, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she embarks on a powerful journey to find the threads between who she is and what she was born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.
From an award-winning journalist, a searing exposé of the effects of the mass incarceration crisis on families -- including the 2.7 million American children who have a parent locked up. In The Shadow System, award-winning journalist Sylvia A. Harvey follows the fears, challenges, and small victories of three families struggling to live within the confines of a brutal system. In Florida, a young father tries to maintain a relationship with his daughter despite a sentence of life without parole. In Kentucky, where the opioid epidemic has led to the increased incarceration of women, many of whom are white, one mother fights for custody of her children. In Mississippi, a wife steels herself for her husband's thirty-ninth year in prison and does her best to keep their sons close. Through these stories, Harvey reveals a shadow system of laws and regulations enacted to dehumanize the incarcerated and profit off their families -- from mandatory sentencing laws, to restrictions on prison visitation, to astronomical charges for brief phone calls. The Shadow System is an eye-opening account of the way incarceration has impacted generations of American families; it delivers a galvanizing clarion call to fix this broken system.
Letter written by incarcerated dads to addressing how fatherlessness has impacted their life and words of encouragement to the next generation. These letter are aimed break generational incarceration and the school to prison pipeline.
Fresh Start for Dads was written for the incarcerated father or recently released father looking to establish and develop a relationship with his child and getting his life going in a positive direction. Being an incarcerated father creates a challenging situation in an already difficult task of fatherhood. Not only does the father have to deal with the negative impact prison has mentally and societally but the impact incarceration does to a child and the range of emotions they go through. Loss, fear, confusion, abandonment and anger are just a few emotions a child may experience. You have to work on repairing your child as well as yourself; Fresh Start for Dads will assist you in both. In this book you will: * Learn how to reconnect with your child * Finding employment * How to keep a positive outlook * Understanding child development * Parenting tips and * How to prepare for your release.