More than half of the 2.3 million men and women incarcerated in the United States are parents of children under the age of 18. For those individuals, parenting from prison can seem nearly impossible. Not only do they miss out on many of their child’s or grandchild’s “firsts,” but they also don’t get to experience smaller moments, such as sharing a bedtime story.

HeartBound Ministries was founded in 2003 to transform the prison community through programs and resources that shift the culture from one of crime and incarceration to one of hope and restoration. Through its Little Readers program, HeartBound is helping to repair and strengthen family bonds by uniting parents in prison and their children through video and the power of storytelling.

With guidance from HeartBound-trained facilitators, parents and grandparents choose a book from a collection of new, age-appropriate children’s books and have themselves videotaped reading the book aloud. HeartBound then sends the child or grandchild a DVD of the recording along with a copy of the book, a personalized bookmark and other literary resources at no cost to the family.

Created initially for Georgia state prisons through an innovative partnership with the Department of Corrections, Little Readers is now available in all 33 Georgia prisons as well as in facilities in Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi. To date, more than 13,000 children and over 6,000 justice-involved adults have participated in the program. Thousands more have benefited from the 73 literacy carts filled with children’s books, educational resources, games and art supplies that HeartBound places in prison visitation rooms.

“Countless studies have uncovered the cognitive and behavioral benefits of being read aloud to as a child. Little Readers leverages the power of literacy by providing children with a way to see, hear and learn from their father or mother at a distance. This can help children to overcome the trauma of separation and thrive academically even when a parent or grandparent is incarcerated. We’re excited to bring Little Readers to even more facilities in the years ahead,” said Andrea Shelton, Founder and Executive Director of HeartBound Ministries.