Children of Incarcerated Parents

Table 1:
Mentee Demographics
Number
Percentage
Total Number of Mentees 517 —
Mentee Gender:
Male 238 47%
Female 270 53%
Missing gender 9 —
Mentee Age:
5 to 7 years old 119 25%
8 to 9 years old 99 21%
10 to 12 years old 160 34%
13 to 15 years old 87 18%
16 to 18 years old 6 1%
Missing age 46 —
Source: Amachi Year Longitudinal Report, April 1, 2001-March 31, 2003.
prisons. Of those, about one-fifth of the children turned out to be ineligible,
either because they were living outside the Amachi geographic area or because
they were not in the 5-to-18-year-old age range. However, caregivers for more
than four-fifths of the remaining 800 children agreed to have them participate in
Amachi.
During the initial two years of operations, 517 children were paired with mentors.
Reflecting the national demographics for children of incarcerated parents,
many of them were very young when they entered the program. (See Table 1.)
Only 19 percent were 13 or older, while 21 percent were 8 or 9 years old, and
25 percent were 7 or younger.
FORMING PARTNERSHIPS WITH CONGREGATIONS
In Amachi, congregations were envisioned as active partners that were deeply
involved in the initiative.To achieve this vision, it was important to help them
see that the mentoring program was consistent with their church’s mission and
would, in fact, contribute to fulfilling that mission.The key was to make the
connection between the challenges faced by children of incarcerated parents, the
community surrounding the church, and the skills, gifts, and talents of congregation
members. If pastors and members saw the children as their neighbors and
understood how their efforts could help them, they would take an active role in
reaching out.
GETTING AMACHI UP AND RUNNING 17