{"id":183,"date":"2024-07-25T21:00:25","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T21:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.generatepress.com\/harmony\/?page_id=183"},"modified":"2025-08-05T23:40:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:40:37","slug":"why-read-along","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/why-read-along\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Read Along Mums & Dads?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n

Why Read Along Mums & Dads?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Why Read Along Mums & Dads?<\/sup><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Recent Australian research highlights how children who experience parental imprisonment are some of the most disadvantaged and overlooked in our community. <\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

\u2018Mapping the needs and experiences of children affected by parental imprisonment: A national survey\u2019 Professor Catherine Flynn, Dr Susy Harrigan, Professor Lorana Bartels, Professor Susan Dennison, Lee Huggins and Sofia Grage-Moore)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low literacy is often linked with disadvantage. Read Along Mums and Dads supports the development of literacy in children, while encouraging an awareness of the importance of reading among incarcerated parents and their wider families. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

‘At that first orientation session, you said books were especially important for young babies. That’s why I joined up. My wife has been amazing, she shows our baby girl the books all the time while playing my recordings. When they visit, my little girl reaches out her arms to me and says: ‘da da da da\u2019. It was her first word.’ <\/em>
Read Along Dads participant, quoted with permission.<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Caregivers of children who have an incarcerated parent chose: \u2018support to maintain relationships with imprisoned person\u2019 as one of the top three priorities as part of their recommendations for reducing the negative impact of a parent being incarcerated. (Flynn et al, 2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Along Mums and Dads helps to bridge this gap.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

‘My two kids save the book package until we have our monthly  Zoom call. It\u2019s pretty exciting when they open it – for them and for me. We talk about the books and I tell them why I chose them.  I feel like their dad again.’<\/em>
Read Along Dads participant, quoted with permission.
<\/sub><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read Along Mums and Dads programs, through their emphasis on positive parenting and strengthening family connections, can even help play a role in helping to reduce recidivism. 
<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018We now know that building relationships and maintaining family and community connections can play a role in reducing the likelihood of an incarcerated person reoffending.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

From: The Golden Thread<\/strong> – putting the family at the heart of the criminal justice system\u2019. The Centre for Social Justice, U.K. 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why Read Along Mums & Dads? Why Read Along Mums & Dads? Recent Australian research highlights how children who experience parental imprisonment are some of the most disadvantaged and overlooked in our community. \u2018Mapping the needs and experiences of children affected by parental imprisonment: A national survey\u2019 Professor Catherine Flynn, Dr Susy Harrigan, Professor Lorana … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-183","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":692,"href":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/183\/revisions\/692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readalong.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}