Storybook Dads

The Storybook Dads program is based on the Elizabeth Fry Society's Storybook Program, which has been available on the BC mainland for years. It is rehabilitative, not only because it helps bridge relations between parent and child, but also because it promotes life skills.

Many families of Nanaimo Correctional Centre (NCC) inmates live in other parts of the Province, which can make family interaction challenging, if not impossible. The program helps facilitate a book-sharing program between family members. Volunteers provide Storybook Dads with an age-appropriate book for their child and a recording device so that they may record themselves reading the book. Then, the book and recording are sent to the child to listen to and read along. The hope for Storybook Dads is that this type of contact will be of mutual benefit to both the children and their incarcerated family members.

In addition to supporting family connections, the Storybook Dads program also helps promote literacy among children by giving an opportunity for them to develop listening and vocabulary skills and fueling their imaginations, which will help them become more confident and successful at school and throughout their lives.

The program also helps the inmate Dads build self-confidence and strengthen connections with their children, which will help the family transition when they are reunited. By helping incarcerated fathers strength their connections to their children, it will also bolster their connection with the community, which will make them less likely to re-offend.

This program is extremely fortunate to have a group of dedicated volunteers who bring passion to the work they do and consistently display respect, initiative, and professionalism.

Since its inception in 2012, to date (June 2016) more than 950 books have been recorded.