Storybook Project

Medford Friends Help Jailed Parents

Audiotape Storybooks for Lonely Kids

Quaker volunteers from the Religious Society of Friends of Medford, NJ, have brought their “Storybook Project” to incarcerated parents in Burlington County (NJ) for the past six years.

Every month, inmate moms and dads at the Burlington County Corrections and Work Release Center in Pemberton are invited to audio tape their own voices reading a storybook for their children.  The books and tapes are then sent home to the children. As they deal with the loneliness they feel, the children can listen to and follow along in the storybook over and over again.  Parents usually record personal, loving messages to their kids along with the story.

The Quaker volunteers bring a selection of new paperback books for all ages, along with tapes and mailing envelopes.  Initially, only inmate mothers were able to participate.  Inmates and staff as well as the volunteers have been enthusiastic about the program and in November 2007 correctional administrators approved expansion of the program to include fathers.  “We work closely with Social Worker, Brandee Pinder,” said Storybook Project Co-coordinator, Laura Blaetz-Price of Medford.  “Her support and behind-the-scenes organizing have been essential to our success in helping parents stay connected with their kids through books.”  For more information contact Laura Blaetz-Price or Meryl Klieger.

Finding A New Way To Connect

By: ED MOORHOUSE

Burlington County Times

PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP - Men and women who are incarcerated at the Burlington County Corrections and Work Release Center are being provided with an opportunity to reconnect with their children.  Through the Storybook Project, the inmates read books into a tape recorder. The book and tape are then mailed to youngsters so they can hear their mother's or father's voice while they read.   Volunteers from the Medford Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends started the program in 2002 for female inmates. They began offering the program to male inmates last year.

"It helps them make a connection with their children," said Laura Blaetz-Price, a Storybook Program coordinator from Mount Holly. "You can see a real physical and emotional change in [the inmates] after they think of their child and read that story. That's the best part of it."

The books and tapes are provided by the Quakers. Volunteers from the society also mail the tapes and books to the children.  Meryl Klieger, a Storybook Project coordinator from Evesham, said she wanted to start the program in Burlington County after she read about a similar project in a magazine published by the National Education Association.

"I was touched by it," Klieger said. "It allows them to play that role of parent and send their child something physical, as well as letting them hear their voices."

Brandee Pinder, a social worker for the county Corrections and Work Release Center, said there are 225 men and women incarcerated in the Pemberton Township facility. Pinder said about seven parents are chosen to read books each month depending on their availability and willingness to participate.

"It's had a very positive effect on the inmates here," Pinder said. "They don't have a lot of contact with the outside world. It's a negative environment, so when they go in that room to read and record a message, it's their form of freedom. It's the little things that make a difference for them."

Blaetz-Price and Klieger said they have received several letters from the inmates thanking them for sponsoring the program.

A woman who has been incarcerated for two years wrote that the program "provided a way to bridge a gap" with her daughter.

Another woman said when her son "needs to hear my voice, he just plays the tape."

One inmate wrote that the Storybook Project gave her "a chance to pick out one of my daughter's favorite books and read it to her. It made my day"

Klieger said the inmates are allowed to record other messages of love and support of their children in addition to reading the book. "I know in my heart that there are seeds being planted here, for these parents and for the kids, and that there are people who have not forgotten either of them," Klieger said. "It gives them hope. That's enough for me."

Blaetz-Price said she hopes to also introduce the program to inmates at the Burlington County Detention Center in Mount Holly.

To donate children's books to the Quakers, or for more information about the Storybook Project,

call 609-953-8914

Photo and Text Courtesy Burlington County Times