SWF is an organization formed to help make fatherhood a focus of successful community reentry for every formerly incarcerated father who seeks a pathway to reunification with his children.

1. STRENGTHENING FAMILIES AND
COMMUNITIES THROUGH
REUNIFICATION AND REENTRY
Orlando A. Smith, LSW, CCDP
o
STANDING WITH FATHERS,
INC.

2. The Problem
-One in three
children in the U.
S. grows up in a
home without
his/her biological
father
- Incarcerated
fathers who do
not participate in
fathering
programs are
more likely to
exhibit behavioral
problems while in
prison.
-The lack of
connection of
inmate fathers to
their children
increases the risk
of recidivism and
decreases the
likelihood of
reentry success
including legal
employment

3. The Scope
-55% of male
state inmates
and 63% of
federal state
inmates are
parents.
-About ½ of
these fathers
lived with at
least one of the
children before
their period of
incarceration.
-It is estimated
that over 7
million children
have parents
under
correctional
supervision.

4. The Effect
-Economic effects
of parental
incarceration
include lost of
income from the
potential provider.
-Emotional
consequences
occur due to the
sense of loss due
to the removal of
a partner/father
figure.
-Social effects
include the
stigma
associated with
having a parent
in prison.

5. The Hope
-While
incarceration
has many
negative effects,
the birth of a
child can have
beneficial effects
on fathers.
-The presence
of a child serves
as a “turning
point” for some
incarcerated
men when they
change the
direction of their
life away from
criminality.

6. However………
*The reality of the matter is that although incarcerated
fathers share the same passion for their children as fathers
in the community, they also share the struggles in
understanding just who or what a father is.
*An incarcerated father on death row for seven years was
quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer article “ Barred From
Their Children” (3/14/99) ,” I’ve been in six prisons and one
common denominator I have seen are men who say they
want to take care of their children. They mean it when they
say it. Then when they get out, the children are the last thing
on their mind. A lot of us just don’t know what a father is. We
don’t even know what a man is!”

7. Teaching Parenting To Men Is Challenging
•As men we have to
look inside ourselves
to our earlier
experiences as sons,
grandsons, and
brothers.
•We have to explore
our own definitions of
who men are; who
fathers are and what
masculinity is.
•We need to find the
courage inside of us to
admit that often our
definitions of
masculinity are
confining and our

8. Multiple and Complex Issues
 Concern about maintaining parental
rights
 Sense of dependency on friends and
family
 Depression, anxiety, sense of
powerlessness
 Fear of being replaced in their parental
role
 Worry of not fitting in after release
 Concern about hardships faced by
caregivers
 Guilt over problems children face at
home

9. MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to help reunify incarcerated fathers
with their children and empower them to provide the
love and support of a father who cares.

10. OUR VISION
Our vision is to maintain a role in the reformation of our
prison and release system by incorporating father
involvement activities as an essential part of the
rehabilitation process.

11. The Inspiration
The concept
of SWF
began as a
father’s own
personal
inventory of
how father
absence had
effected him
as a child
and later as a
man who
would
experience
estrangement
from his own
children.

12. Brief History
This inspiration would eventually lead to the
establishment of Standing With Father’s Inc. (SWF), a
small non-profit agency with a staff consisting of social
workers, interns, and trained volunteers. SWF is a
relatively new, “up and coming “ agency. We are,
however, growing as a human service organization
known in the community as a tenacious advocate among
reentry programs. We at SWF see ourselves as
advocates and policy reformers in that we advocate for
the fathers as well as their children by making their
reunion a matter of social significance.

13. Programs and Services
-The focus of SWF’s programming for incarcerated fathers is
on the relationships between incarcerated males and their
children.
-Programming is based on developing pro-fathering
knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in order to help connect
or reconnect inmates to their families.
-SWF begins working with incarcerated fathers within 2 years
of release through its Fathers Connecting With Children
program which guides participants in working through a set
of parenting scenarios designed to prepare them for
reuniting with their children.

14. Programs and Services
(Cont’d)
What makes SWF unique in terms of the services it provides
to fathers is our continued tracking of men after their release
from prison. As an absolute commitment to the processes of
reentry and reunification, SWF provides on-going post
release services for fathers who were in our pre-release
program by way of continuing community based services at
residential reentry centers in the Philadelphia area. We also
address co-parenting relationships (mothers and surrogates)
as essential to child relationship quality and stability between
parents and better child outcomes.

15. The Need
We are asking for a foundation grant in the amount of
$30,000 to help pay for a research project that will evaluate
the effectiveness of our current community based programs
and assess the potential for further expansion. The
evaluation of programs currently underway in three
Residential Reentry Centers in Philadelphia will include both
quantitative and qualitative data in the form of participant
surveys, institutional data collection, participant interviews
and stakeholder interviews. These methods are used to
determine if the program has had an impact across a series
of outcome measures, particularly as it relates to a reduction
in the rate of recidivism and the father’s sustained contact
with their children over time .

16. Program Evaluation
•Insure intervention is achieving desired result
(successful reunification and reentry)
•Helps to understand process of change for participants
•Identifies areas of needed improvement
•Identifies ineffective interventions
•Increases credibility when applying for funding

17. These are the Faces of
Children In Need of Hope

18. Will You Choose……

19. Hope Over Despair?

20. Please Stand With Us As We Stand With Them!