Parenting Program Standards – BOP Program Statement 5355.03

U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Prisons

OPI: FPI/Educ

NUMBER: 5355.03

DATE: January 20, 1995

SUBJECT: Parenting Program Standards

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

To provide standards for parenting programs in all institutions.

Beginning in 1986, the United States Congressional appropriations conference reports for the Bureau included recommended parenting program funding levels. Initially, funding was provided at four female institutions and subsequently at all female institutions and at least one male institution in each BOP region. Conference reports also identified appropriate visiting room space, parent education, social service outreach, and community-based service providers as desirable parenting program characteristics. This Program Statement expands such programs to all institutions.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The expected results of this program are:

Positive relationships, family values, and mutual support and nurturing, which may be sustained after release, will be promoted and reinforced among inmates and their spouses and children.
Each inmate will have opportunities to counteract negative family consequences resulting from his/her incarceration.
The institutional social environment will be improved through opportunities for inmates to maintain positive and sustaining contacts with their families.
Social service and community-based organizations will be included in parenting programs whenever possible.

DIRECTIVES AFFECTED

Directive Rescinded

P.S. 5355.02 — Parenting Program Standards (09/23/93)

Directives Referenced

P.S. 1210.14 — Management Control and Program Review (10/03/94)

P.S. 1221.60 — Directives Management Manual (11/21/94)

P.S. 4100.02 — BOP Acquisitions (05/03/89)

P.S. 5267.05 — Visiting Regulations (07/21/93)

P.S. 5300.15 — Education, Training and Leisure Time Program Standards (12/16/93)

P.S. 5300.16 — Volunteers and Citizen Participation Programs (10/14/94)

P.S. 5310.12 — Psychology Services Manual (08/30/93)

Federal Acquisition Regulations

STANDARDS REFERENCED

American Correctional Association Foundation/Core Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions: FC2-4098, C2-4168, C2-4237, C2-4248;

American Correctional Association 3rd. Edition Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions: 3-4380, 3-4382, 3-4387, 3-4388, 3-4421;

American Correctional Association Foundation/Core Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities: C2-5254, C2-5255, C2-5258;

American Correctional Association 3rd. Edition Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities: 3-ALDF-4F-01, 4F-02, 4F-04, and 4F-05.

PROGRAM SCOPE

Parenting programs shall be established in all institutions housing Federal prisoners.

The program shall be under the general guidance of the Education Department, and a specific staff member in that department shall be assigned to coordinate and monitor the program. Cooperation and coordination between Education staff and other departments shall be established, with specific emphasis on building strong liaison with the Psychology Services and Chaplaincy Departments. Parenting programs may be offered during evening hours and/or weekends if local conditions warrant. Any institution, which because of its special mission or population requires a waiver from all or part(s) of this Program Statement, shall seek a waiver in accordance with the Program Statement, Directives Management Manual.

Parenting program funds shall be provided, whenever available, through regional allocations for each institution. Funding levels shall be adequate to meet established standards and to provide quality programs.

PROGRAM STANDARDS

Visiting Space

Space shall be provided for each program. While separate space is preferred, if this is not possible, a section of the institution’s visiting room shall be reserved for the parenting program. Institutions which designate separate space for this program shall, when possible, establish visiting hours coinciding with regular visiting room hours. Staff shall at all times adhere to local visiting room policies and procedures.

Wherever possible, social services outreach contacts shall be established with community-based social service organizations to facilitate the provision of services to the inmate parent, visiting custodial parent, and children. Social services, as defined, are services provided to promote and enhance human welfare. These services may include assistance in such areas as veterans benefits, welfare support, child care, health promotion and disease prevention, prenatal and postnatal care, etc.

Parenting Education

A parenting education component, as described in Section 7, shall be offered in each parenting program.

PARENTING EDUCATION PROGRAM OUTLINE

The following is a “recommended” program outline for the parenting education component of the program.

Parenting Skills

Building or continuing family relationships while incarcerated, including the use of community support systems;
Accomplishing age-appropriate communication with children during long periods of absence, including explaining a parent’s incarceration to children;
Engaging in interactive play with children during visiting;
Recognizing and contributing to the stages of childhood development, including proper nutrition;
Administering appropriate and effective discipline;
Fostering self-esteem in children;
Participating in a child’s education process;
Preventing childhood injuries, including physical and sexual abuse;
Dealing with sibling rivalry; and
Identifying factors that indicate personal readiness for parenthood, including knowledge of a positive environment for children.

Skills for Family Support

Analyzing family needs and determining how those needs can be met;
Managing a family budget;
Developing skills to cope with change; increasing stress management skills; and
Setting priorities, and obtaining problem solving techniques.

Family Literacy Education

Understanding the importance of raising the reading levels of inmates, spouses, and their children;
Motivating family interest in literacy, e.g., reading to each other, watching and discussing interactive TV programs, including the use of related reading materials;
Organizing and developing a time frame to assist children with reading, writing, homework, etc.;
Developing effective tutoring skills; and
Compiling a list of education resources to assist in family literacy for the inmate and family members while incarcerated and after release.

Substance Abuse Education

Explaining the effects of parental use of addictive substances on children;
Discussing components of the addictive personality;
Introducing strategies to break substance addiction; and
Organizing support groups.

Prenatal Care Information for Expectant Mothers

Achieving and/or maintaining physical fitness;
Developing and/or maintaining a proper diet;
Evaluating childbirth procedure options; and
Providing appropriate infant care.

RECORD KEEPING

Each parenting program shall maintain records to include the following information:

A full description of the program scope, including room/child care center space provided, the names of social services accessed, the service provided, and related information.
Amount of funds spent on the program during the fiscal year including estimated value of “free services,” overhead cost (estimated at 20%, if actual figures are not available), value of BOP staff time, materials used, and related items.
Non-duplicated number of inmate parent enrollments and completions in each structured parenting class, the number of hours per week, the number of weeks per year, per enrollee, and totals for the fiscal year.
Non-duplicated number of children involved in the program and the number of hours of involvement per child per year, and total for the fiscal year.
A copy of all curriculums used in parenting education and related courses.

Reports for each fiscal year (Attachment A) shall be included in the education annual report and provided to the Central Office and regional education administrators by January 30th of each year.

NON-ENGLISH-PROFICIENT INMATES

In the administration and implementation of this Program Statement, and in accordance with the Program Statement on Education, Training and Leisure Time Program Standards, efforts shall be made to meet the needs of non-English-proficient inmates and their visiting spouses and children.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

The method for providing parenting program services, as specifically adapted to each institution, are at each institution’s discretion, either through services provided by incumbent full-time staff, through procurement procedures, or a combination of both. Community-based non-profit organizations shall be given consideration as service providers.

PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES

The scope of work used in requests for proposals for parenting programs shall specify all the relevant required standards outlined in this Program Statement. A sample statement of work (SOW) is provided (Attachment B).

EVALUATION

The Program Review Division shall monitor compliance with this Program Statement during regularly scheduled program reviews.

\s\

Kathleen M. Hawk, Director

Attachment A — Parenting Program Report – FY

1. Who administers the program? (Mark one)

NON BOP SVC PROVIDER

BOP INSTITUTION

A COMBINATION OF BOTH

2. If you marked “NON-BOP” or “BOTH”, please provide the following information:

ORGANIZATION’S NAME	ADDRESS & TELEPHONE	HRS PER YEAR FROM CONTRACT	AMT PAID TO PROVIDER	COST PER HR

3. Visiting Room/Child Care Center:

LOCATION	SPACE: SQ FT	# OF HOURS OF OP	TIME OF	DAYS PER

Other Information:

(This form may be locally reproduced or duplicated via Wordprocessing)

Please list any Social Services provided:

NAME OF AGENCY	SERVICE PROVIDED	COST	FREE

Please Provide Estimated Value of Total Services for the Parenting Program For the Fiscal Year (Actual Fees, Value of “Free” Services and Overhead).

$_____

Number of Parents and Children (Non-duplicated) involved in the program and hours of involvement:

PARTICIPANTS	(VISITING ROOM ACTIVITIES)			(STRUCTURED CLASSES)
PARTICIPANTS	NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS	AVG # HRS/WK	AVG # HRS/YR	TOTAL # OF PARTICIPANTS	# OF HRS/WK	# OF HRS/YR
INMATE PARENTS
VISITING CUSTODIAL PARENT
CHILDREN

Curriculum materials have been developed and are provided along with this report for the following Parenting Education Courses:

__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________

Attachment B — Sample Statement of Work for a Parenting Program

The __________ [Name of Institution] intends to make an award for parenting program services which meet the requirements of this solicitation.

The contractor shall make available, on a non-discriminatory basis, parenting program services consistent with requirements of this solicitation, the rules and procedures of the __________ [Name of Institution], and all applicable federal and state laws and requirements in effect during the term of this contract.

The manner and the method in performing the tasks outlined in the statement of work are within the sole discretion of the Contractor who shall perform in accordance with professional standards and methods as outlined in the Bureau of Prisons Parenting Policy Statement. The Bureau of Prisons has the sole discretion to determine the contractor’s compliance with the contract.

The Contractor shall provide a program which meets the following standards:

The program shall support the development and maintenance of positive relationships between inmates, their spouses or custodial parents, and their children.

In space provided by __________ [Name of Institution], Contractor shall structure programs which provide an opportunity for inmate parents, visiting spouses or custodial parents and children to interact in ways designed to strengthen family relationships.

The Contractor shall provide appropriate furniture, education-oriented toys, books and other materials and activities designed to establish and strengthen positive family parenting relationships. The contractor is responsible for any injury caused by these materials.

The Contractor shall provide structured parenting education courses to inmates and parents and, when feasible, to visiting spouses of custodial parents. These courses will be in addition to those ordinarily offered by the institution. The curriculum shall address the following subject areas:

Parenting Skills: building family relationships, sensitivity to the impact of a parent’s incarceration on children and family members, how to assist in childhood development and related activities;
Skills for Family Support: analyzing and meeting the need of families, including job search and retention skills, family budgets, stress management, problem solving and setting priorities;
Family Literacy Education: raising the literacy level of the inmate and corresponding family members;
Substance Abuse Education: addressing the effect of substance abuse, its impact on children and family members and strategies to break substance addiction; and
Prenatal Care for Expectant Mothers: addressing how to achieve and maintain physical fitness, the development and maintenance of proper diets, how to evaluate different child birth procedure options and appropriate infant care.

The Contractor shall be required to maintain records on parenting programs which show the following:

Expenditures during the course of the contract year;
Number of inmate parent non-duplicated enrollments and completions in structured parenting classes; the number of hours per week and the number of weeks per year, per enrollee, and totals for the contract year;
The number of children, non-duplicated, involved in the program and the number of hours of involvement of each child per year and the total for the contract year;
The number of, non-duplicated, visiting spouses or custodial parents, in visiting room parenting activities, per week, the number of hours per week of their activities, and the total for the contract year;
A copy of all curriculums used in parenting education and related courses; and
A full description of the scope of the program, including the numbers of volunteers and their affiliation, if any, the names of social services accessed, costs, if any, services provided, and related information.

The Contractor shall undertake outreach efforts with community-based social service agencies to identify and to facilitate the provision of needed services to the inmate parent, visiting spouse or custodial parent, and children. These services should include, for example, assistance in such areas as veterans benefits, welfare support, child care services, health promotion and disease prevention services, prenatal and postnatal care, etc.

The Contractor shall identify and facilitate the use of community-based volunteers and the free services of such organizations as Boy/Girl Scouts, Children’s Television Workshop (CTW), Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) and such other organizations which make available volunteer and free services. All volunteers are subject to the minimum security and training standards as outlined in P.S. 3000.02, Human Resource Management Manual, and P.S. 5300.14, Volunteers, Involvement in Programs.

The Contractor must provide no less than 15 hours of supervised visiting room activities and 6 hours of parenting education classes per week for a period of 44 weeks. Class hours shall be established after appropriate discussion and coordination with institution staff. The contractor’s performance should be contingent upon continued inmate participation in parenting programs, and it will not be compensated if the only participants are outside individuals.

Total participation during the contract period is estimated as follows:

Inmates: 100
Visiting Spouses or Custodial Parents: 100
Visiting Children: 125

The Contractor shall provide at least one full-time and one part-time on-site position to fulfill the requirements of the contract. These staff members will act as the coordinator/recruiter/aide and shall be responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the total parenting program. Their responsibilities shall include recruiting program activities, establishing and coordinating program activities and structured classes, developing course curriculums, developing and coordinating linkages with community-based social service agencies and volunteer organizations, and the maintenance and provision to the institution of all records and required reports associated with the implementation of the parenting program.

The institution Supervisor of Education and appropriate institution procurement staff shall ensure compliance by the contractor with all provisions of the contract governing parenting programs.

Parenting Program Standards – BOP Program Statement 5355.03 Download

Published Feb 8, 2025 by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA | Last Updated by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA on Feb 23, 2025 at 3:05 pm