SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 2008
Presented January 15, 2008 by Joyce Waddell-Townsend, Chair
WELCOME to our Sixth Annual General
Meeting, here in the Library of St. George’s Cathedral.
This is the third time we have met here, where we truly
appreciate the hospitality of the church and the coziness
of the facilities!
a) Brief History of CVP We originally
began in January 1995, when several of us, including
Dorothy Platt-Taylor, who has since passed away, met
together in Bridge House to form Children Visiting
Prisons-Kingston. We also decided to become organization
members of OMEP Canada as it was through OMEP Edmonton that
the concept was originally developed. We became
incorporated in 2003, hence the need since then for formal
annual general meetings. Thank you so much for coming out
to show your interest and to support the work we are doing
for the children of inmates and their families.
Our Mission is to enhance the visiting experiences
of children with an incarcerated parent. From this we have
come to believe that a father in prison is still a father
and can play an important role in his child’s
life. To support this mission, our volunteers go
out to the visiting areas in Bath, Collins Bay and
Joyceville, on a regular basis, to read a story and to
supervise a related craft for the children while the
parents are visiting with each other. We also consult with
Corrections and with Inmate Committees about suitable books
and toys to purchase, and also help maintain the children’s
corner. You will see an outline of our activities at the
end of this report.
b) Community Awareness: During this past year, we
have been fortunate to have had groups of students from St.
Lawrence College and from the Queen’s School of Business
study our operations and make suggestions for raising our
profile in the community. We are very grateful for their
insights and have started a strategic planning process
which will focus on creating a Speaker’s Bureau to talk to
teachers, professionals, church groups and service club
members about the importance of children and fathers
maintaining their relationships during a difficult time in
their lives.
In that context we will be able to use the film
made by 2 Film Studies students at our AGM last
year. It offers a good overview of CVP and Bridge House
programs, within an 8 minute viewing period. We may or may
not have a DVD player on which to show it tonight, I’m
afraid, but you are welcome to ask to have a copy made for
your own use.
We also plan to promote more energetically the
Children and Prisons Resource Kits for
Teachers which are on display but the material is
not available for borrowing. However there is a
bibliography you can have for reference by contacting Donna
Lynch, Librarian at the Faculty of Education’s Teacher
Resource Centre, [email protected].
Since January 2008 the elementary kit has been borrowed
three times and the Intermediate kit four times, thus
helping to spread the word and reduce the stigma children
of prisoners encounter. There is also a box here tonight of
CVP RESOURCES which you can borrow for
short periods as long as you sign up for them!
c) On display you will find copies of the
Children, Families and Prisons pamphlet
which lists related books in KFPL and also some local
family resource agencies We are grateful to Evelyn Lam for
preparing this for us and running it off.
d) Our Website has been
developed and maintained by webmaster Alice
Ching-Chew. Tonight we are presenting her with a
letter of commendation that she can post on our website at
www.geocities.com//childrenvisitingprisons/
to let others know how much we value her contribution to
CVP.
e) Laura MacLean and I helped
CFCN to plan and promote a conference on
Incarcerated Fathers and their Children
which was held at Portsmouth Harbour on June 24th. An offer
by member Christine Shipp Kiparssis to sponsor the
attendance of 3 of our new members was greatly appreciated
by Linda Auriemma, Evelyn Lam and Krista Flint (JHS)
f) Laura and Joyce met with Karla Gouthro,
the new coordinator for Queen’s
Community Outreach Centre on Aberdeen
Street. This cooperative venture led
to 8 new volunteers, Emma Bennett, Blaire Comecchio, Joanne
Kearon, Cindy Kwong, Narisa Lalji, Melissa Lam, Clemence
Tsang and Karla Gouthro herself!
FUND RAISING INITIATIVES
Honorary Memberships $125.00 was raised through 5
donations of $25.00 each in response to personal requests
from the Chair.
Yard Sale held August 16th at Bridge
House, 333 Kingscourt Avenue. netted $170.89!
Donation from St. Margaret’s Church of
$500.00 was given to Bridge House to be
used for van service for volunteers (mostly students) who
do not have their own cars to access Bath, Collins Bay or
Joyceville Institutions. We are extremely grateful for this
help and look forward to our partnership in this matter
with Bridge House..
JHS PRE-RELEASE FAIRS were held on June
10, 11, & 12. As I was giving a presentation on CVP to
the OMEP (Organisation Mondiale pour
l’Education Prescolaire) World
Seminar being held in Quebec City last August
developed a questionnaire to administer to
inmates at the Fair. I wanted to know whether our volunteer
efforts were seen as worthwhile by those with children who
visited them in prison. Of the 21 inmates and 4 staff who
responded the feedback was generally very positive. In
answer to the question ‘What would you change?’ one person
answered “Just bigger and better, more often if possible.”
Another comment was “Visits are hard on us & the
visitors so this helps break the ice; It allows quality
(time) between parents”.
While most children who visit know their father is in
prison, there are a few who don’t, according to their
fathers, but only one father had read any of the books that
we try to make available on telling your children that you
are in prison. A copy of a covering letter and the 7 page
report was sent to Mr. Ross Toller, CSC Regional Manager,
to seven Wardens and to Dianna Anthony. Citizen Engagement
Officer, on October 29th, 2008. No response has been
received to date, except verbally from Dianne.
OTHER INITIATIVES
Health Issues: There has been a noticeable
improvement in the level of cleanliness and tidiness in the
children’s corners this year.
Highlighting the Convention on the Rights of the
Child: Tonight we have several copies of the 1989
Convention which Canada signed on to through the United
Nations. Our focus tonight it to look at the extent to
which the right to know both parents extends to those
children with a parent in prison.
Research Report
Incarcerated Fathers: A Descriptive Analysis
2008 N0
R-186
Lloyd
Withers1
&
Jean
Folsom 1Canadian
Families and Corrections Network
2Correctional
Service of Canada May, 2007 is a very worthwhile addition
to our knowledge of the family backgrounds of new inmates
to our Federal prisons. Congratulations to the authors.
NEWS FROM THE INSTITUTIONS You will
see by the statistics for prison visits that there is
little correlation between the number of hours that we have
volunteered at each institution and the number of children
who have been served by our story and craft programs. Even
though the numbers of children might be few, our volunteers
often do various tasks of maintenance, such as tidying,
cleaning, disinfecting and monitoring the toys, books,
crayons and paper. This benefits those who use the play
areas at other times and supports the CSC cleaning staff.
| 2006
|
2007
|
2008 | |
| Bath
|
Vol. Hrs 28.5 Ch.17
|
Vol. Hrs. 37.5 Ch. 24
|
Vol. Hrs. 24.5 Ch. 29
|
| Collins Bay
|
Vol. Hrs. 58 Ch. 53
|
Vol. Hrs. 54 Ch. 24+
|
Vol. Hrs. 15.5 Ch.22
|
| Joyceville
|
Vol. Hrs 55.5 Ch. 22
|
Vol. Hrs. 25.5 Ch. 42
|
Vo. Hrs. 28.75 Ch. 27
|
| 142 hrs 92 ch.
|
117 hrs 90 ch.
|
68.75 hrs 78 ch.
|
|
| 2008 totals
|
Vol. Hrs. 68.75 hrs
|
Children 78
|
BEAVER CREEK A report is included from Robin Milani, our CVP member on their committee. Volunteers made 6 visits to the children’s area, interacted with 14 families and 19 children, from October to December.
MILLHAVEN In March a visit was paid to the V&C area to update the toy situation. At that time the purchase of foam blocks was recommended and they have since been added to the play materials.
BOARD MEETINGS We held eleven board meetings in 2008 but for one of them we did not have a quorum.. We continue to be grateful to Bridge House for allowing us to hold our meetings in their dining room, to use their copy machine, and to meet some of their staff and guests. We have welcomed new board members Linda Auriemma and Lorraine Johnston as replacements for Francoise Bessette and Mandi Crowder who have moved out of town.
OMEP Seminar in Quebec City was a great success, with some 250 members from around the world in attendance.
In Conclusion: I would like to thank all those who are committed to our mission and for all the work they do, in front of and behind the scenes. Ours is such a wide ranging mission that there is never enough time to do all we would like to do, but we have always believed that even if we only help one child & one family in the V&C when we are there, it has still been worthwhile. Our extended activities also help to spread the word.
Respectfully submitted,
Joyce Waddell-Townsend, Chair
Prepared for January 15, 2009
