|
|
| Delinquent dads get education option | |
| By ROBERTA
HEIMAN, Courier & Press staff writer (812) 464-7432 or rheiman@evansville.net
Some Vanderburgh County fathers who aren’t paying child support will soon face a new kind of sentencing — to job training and parenting classes.
The county’s seven Superior Court judges have agreed to sentence eligible noncustodial dads to a new program being established jointly by Goodwill Industries and Family & Children’s Service in Evansville.
It’s the first time local judges have had an alternative to jail or electronic house arrest for the thousands of local parents who fail to pay court-ordered child support, said Chief Superior Court Judge Scott Bowers.
“And neither of those (jail or house arrest) is educational,” he noted.
Such a program has been needed in this county for a long time, said Jennifer Hunt, community services director at the nonprofit Family & Children’s Service.
She said the point is, “If the dad is in jail, he’s not going to be able to pay support.”
She said, “This program will provide an opportunity to get job skills, help with job placement, parenting classes and whatever other social skills training is needed.
“We want them to be employable and we want them to be good parents.”
The program is being funded with a $636,000 federal welfare-to-work grant through the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Its goal is to serve 72 men by the end of the grant in August 2002.
Connie Ralph, vice president for human services at Goodwill, said the program will be targeted to non-custodial fathers whose children are receiving welfare aid through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program.
Goodwill will provide the case management, job training, job placement and job retention services, while Family & Children’s Service will provide parenting classes and personal counseling.
Ralph said the grant includes funds for purchasing training at Ivy Tech and other institutions that teach job skills not taught at Goodwill, such as computer skills. Goodwill teaches job-readiness and work habits, retail skills plus some trucking and sub-assembly work skills.
Referrals can be made to other agencies for treatment of drug and alcohol addictions if needed.
She said an individual plan will be developed for each father and there will be no limit on how much time each has to complete the program.
|
|
| If you are interested in
additional information, or would like to set up a
Families Worldwide Chapter in your community,
please feel free to contact us via
e-mail. Families
Worldwide Send comments and mail to Webmaster |
