On Nov. 1, Fort Bend County Judge KP George, alongside County Sheriff Eric Fagan and Dr. Connie Almeida, director of the county's Behavioral Health Services Department, announced the implementation process for the new Always Parenting program, an initiative designed to support the minor children of parents who are incarcerated in Fort Bend County.
“This is so important when you think about the number of how many incarcerated parents' children live in the county,” George said. “By offering a program that will allow parents the chance to serve their sentences and still spend time with their children, we help to maintain the family structure. The children have done nothing wrong, and where we can help, we should.”
According to a Nov. 1 press release from the county, data from the Fort Bend County detention center in Richmond showed 5,341 individuals booked at the jail, or 44%, in 2019 had minor children. This program aims to coordinate a protocol for identifying the needs of incarcerated parents with minor children and further establishing policies for visitation at the detention center to increase opportunities for engagement, play, and mutual learning between incarcerated parents and children.
The department of behavioral services will work with Dr. Robin Gearing, a professor at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Houston, to develop and deploy the Always Parenting program in two phases.
