EDITORIAL: Worth the wait

‘ ‘ ‘ About a year ago, the Pittsburgh Child Guidance Foundation started putting together a… ‘ ‘ ‘ About a year ago, the Pittsburgh Child Guidance Foundation started putting together a family recreation and visiting center at the Allegheny County jail. Aimed at making visits for families more comfortable and less psychologically demanding on children, the center is the first of its kind in the nation and has already had nearly 4,000 visitors, many of whom had nothing but praise for the efforts of volunteers who helped put it together. ‘ ‘ ‘ And with good reason. The wait time at the jail is at least one hour to see a visitor and can easily stretch beyond that mark to two or more hours. Two hours in a cramped room with a small, restless child and nothing to do would not likely rank highly on a list of how most people want to spend their time, and so it’s good to see a community group doing something to make families feel more welcome. ‘ ‘ ‘ So, all things being equal, the Gwendolyn June Campbell Elliot Family Activity Center seems like a pretty good program, especially considering it was built using donated funds and volunteer labor, which exceeded $400,000 and 2,000 hours, respectively. ‘ ‘ ‘ Perhaps the best thing about the program is that it offers a support net both to inmates of the jail and their families. Inmates often have a hard time receiving visitors, and having a strong family support system is believed to help lower recidivism rates and keep parolees out of trouble. The center encourages families to visit inmates, allowing this support to extend into the jail itself. ‘ ‘ ‘ And it also helps to make children less uncomfortable, encouraging parents or other family members to bring them along for a visit instead of making the trip alone. ‘ ‘ ‘ At a time when youth arrests are on the rise and the number of inmates in jails and prisons is growing to the boundaries of the system’s ability to facilitate them, keeping people out of jail has never been more important. ‘ ‘ ‘ The Family and Corrections Network states that one of every 40 children in the United States has a parent behind bars, and that in many of these cases the family loses the ability to care for children as they deal with the situation. There are also statistics that draw a link between a child having an incarcerated parent and that child being incarcerated later in life himself. ‘ ‘ ‘ In cases like this, the Family Center seems like an excellent idea. It promotes family ties in an environment that gets little public attention or scrutiny, and it allows for a more pleasant experience for everyone involved. ‘ ‘ ‘ There were probably other ways that volunteer organizations could have spent almost a half-million dollars to help the county’s children, but it has to be said that the center appears to be accomplishing its goal of making families more comfortable while promoting ties between children and incarcerated parents or relatives. ‘ ‘ ‘ And while it’s too early in the program’s life to truly call it a success, it is nice to see volunteer organizations doing something to help a part of society that is often marginalized and ignored in an effort to make things a little better for everyone involved.