The Pathfinder Network Exhibits at American Parole and Probation Association Training Institute

The Pathfinder Network exhibited at the American Parole and Probation Association Training Institute from August 18-21, 2019 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, California. The organization’s exhibit features Parenting Inside Out (PIO), its evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral parenting skills training program for incarcerated parents.

“The Pathfinder Network is excited to share PIO with the network of community corrections, juvenile justice, and treatment professionals at the APPA Training Institute,” said Parenting Inside Out Program Manager Richard Hines-Norwood. “Our long standing collaboration and strong relationships with these partners allow us to support families and keep communities safe.”

PIO is an evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral parenting skills training program based on the Oregon Social Learning Center’s Parent Management Training (PMT) program for at-risk families, which appears on numerous national-level best practice lists. PIO has been reviewed by SAMHSA and is the only parenting program for incarcerated and criminal justice involved parents on its National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP). Results of the randomized controlled study of 359 incarcerated mothers and fathers conducted during the development of PIO revealed that at one-year post release, PIO participants had a 34% reduction in recidivism and a 29% reduction in self-reported criminal behavior. During incarceration, the PIO group reported more positive parent-child contact and received more total family visits than the control group.

The PIO program addresses the unique situation and issues that parents with criminal justice system involvement face and provides a new way of navigating life, utilizing healthy, prosocial skills to interact with their children, partners, co-parents, officials, friends and family. This program includes lessons and information on the following topics: communication and problem solving, child development, structure and guidance, family relationships and connecting from prison, co-parenting, and reentry. PIO has been successfully implemented in both men’s and women’s prisons, county jails, treatment centers and community programs in 32 states, Australia and Canada.