Sun Rise Camp: A new day for children with incarcerated parents

1 month ago

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From gymnastics to science, location are camps for everything. But for nan first clip successful Alaska, there’s 1 for kids who person a genitor serving clip successful prison.

Keys to Life, a nonprofit which useful to beforehand arts, civilization and diversity, offered nan summertime program.

The campy was astatine Mirror Lake adjacent Chugiak past week, pinch 5 days of nosy for astir 30 kids.

At Sun Rise Camp, each time was a caller time for nan children, who had a chance to make caller friends and immerse themselves successful nan arts.

The euphony sessions were a large deed pinch nan kids. In 1 of them, children composed songs.

The youngest group of kids called their song, “Early Bird.”

Lei’ana, who is eight, says it’s a communicative astir 2 birds. “A nighttime owl and early vertebrate talking to each other,” she said. “They want their ain routines.”

Mary Schallert, a longtime Anchorage euphony coach and songwriter, helped nan children put their words to music.

“They look to maine for illustration great, awesome kids,” Schallert said. “You know, location was thing that stood out, for illustration this kid is that, and this kid is that. Basically, we were surviving successful nan moment.”

Shirley Mae Springer Staten, who organized nan camp, says it’s not instantly apparent, but these children person shouldered a batch for their age. She hopes nan campy will thief to assistance immoderate of nan burdens by giving them an opportunity to return disconnected their armor and clasp caller experiences.

There is simply a stigma to it, she says, but present they tin conscionable beryllium kids and not beryllium identified arsenic kids of incarcerated parents.

Springer Staten says nan kids walk a batch of power keeping that portion of their life private. But nan campy gave them a safe spot to stock their stories. Last week, counselors had a chance to beryllium down pinch kids who needed to talk.

“It’s been an aggravated week,” Springer Staten said. “We had tons of tears. We had stories astir uncles being shot, committing suicide.”

“We had a existent aggravated speech astir bullying,” Springer Staten said. The taxable came up during skits nan children performed.

“Some of nan kids astatine schoolhouse cognize that their parents are incarcerated. And they’re emotion that accent and bullying astir that, and present they didn’t person to woody pinch it,” Springer Staten said.

Ruben, an eighth grader, said it was a alleviation to cognize that he is not alone.

“It was really cool to travel and meet immoderate much group that I tin subordinate to,” said Ruben, who made friends pinch a sixth grader named Logan.

Both Ruben and Logan opportunity astir kids person nary thought really reliable it is to person a genitor successful prison.

“It’s benignant of difficult connected my mom, conscionable being unsocial pinch me,” Ruben said.

It doesn’t thief erstwhile kids are mean, Logan said. He’s ever wondered why kids, who are fortunate to person a happy and unchangeable family life, person a difficult clip knowing his situation.

“They deliberation they’re having a bully life, and they deliberation everybody has one,” Logan said, “but not everybody has a bully life.”

“Some kids shot it up. Some kids request help,” he said.

Research shows that children of incarcerated parents are hidden victims successful our criminal justness system. They suffer higher rates of affectional aliases behavioral problems, do poorly successful school, and are besides astatine consequence of cycling done nan situation strategy themselves.

One kid astatine nan Sun Rise campy comes from a family pinch 3 generations of women who person each been incarcerated. Another boy, now successful foster care, said his begetter forgot to provender his family aft his mother died — conscionable a fewer of nan heart-breaking stories children astatine this campy clasp inside.

But astatine Sun Rise Camp, each time is simply a caller day, filled pinch art, euphony and storytelling and, champion of all, caller friends, who enjoyed each other’s institution precocious into nan night.

“We couldn’t sleep, truthful we laughed, giggled and each that,” said Kaelyn, who said it was difficult to get up early.

In nan songs nan children composed, nan request for slumber was a communal theme.

In nan younger group’s piece, “Early Bird,” nan children place pinch nan nighttime owl, and location successful nan mediate of nan chorus there’s a werewolf that bites, almost for illustration a unusual dream.

The older group wrote a opus called, “From My Cabin to Neptune,” which besides had a dreamlike quality.

There’s a statement successful nan chorus that says, “I wanna spell successful my compartment and sleep, wherever nan satellite and nan Neptune is wherever I find peace.”

Iris Montesano, a assemblage student, who co-taught nan songwriting sessions, says that’s OK.

“Having a measurement to transmission that emotion, aliases vexation aliases happiness, into thing you tin share, aliases possibly thing you conscionable execute for yourself, is super-duper valuable,” Montesano said.