In a very humanistic and touching way, the story of Ladybug reveals an aspect of incarceration not often considered. The impact of incarceration on families and children is very profound, very real. Ladybug’s story reveals the vital role family plays in the success — social, educational, and emotional — of not only children, but their incarcerated parents as well.

What is Family Literacy?
Family literacy is the learned, not innate, intergenerational process of sharing that occurs between parents (2) and their children which supports and expands the range of learning in a family. This process of learning occurs in all families, although in different ways for each family and each family member. Family literacy programs strive to build upon this process.

Although a significant force for many years, family literacy programming only recently started to receive its deserved attention. Several major pieces of federal legislation acted upon by the 105 th Congress recognized family literacy as a successful strategy for helping families achieve self-sufficiency. For the first time, a single, consistent, and comprehensive definition of family literacy services was used in federal law. As stated in the 1998 Workforce Investment Act, Improving America’s Schools Act, Reading Excellence Act, and Head Start Act, family literacy means . . .

. . . services provided to participants on a voluntary basis that are of sufficient intensity in terms of hours, and of sufficient duration, to make sustainable changes in a family, and that integrate all of the following activities:

  1. interactive literacy activities between parents and their children
  2. training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their children
  3. parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency
  4. an age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences.

2 The definition of parent or parents includes, in addition to a biological or adoptive parent, a legal guardian or other person acting in place of a parent or legal guardian, and may include a person such as a grandparent, stepparent, aunt, uncle, older sibling, or other person either (1) with whom the child lives or (2) who has been designated by a parent, legal guardian, or court to act in place of the parent, legal guardian, or court.

“Thank you for showing me another way to spend my time with my children. I’m a young mother of 3. Some things I didn’t know, but this program showed me.”
Participant in family literacy program

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