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PSS-KIP (Prison Support Services - Kids in Play) is an outreach programme that reaches out to inmates and their families. It also seeks to support amendable ex-offenders in facilitating the reintegration into the community and their families through aftercare programmes.
To achieve this, inmates' families will visit the playrooms to register personally. The purpose-built playrooms, owned by Singapore Prisons Service serve to register inmates' families and assist them to seek good understanding of the programme. When the playroom is open, all children are also welcome to play inside the playroom while they wait for their turns to visit their dads/mums inside prison.
Both playrooms are located in Changi Women's Prison and Prison Link Centre respectively. Today, KIP programme partners with 11 institutions (4 prisons added as of Aug‘09) providing a myriad of social and emotional support to offenders and ex-offenders, their children and primary caregivers. At any point in time, the programme assists approximately 360 beneficiaries registered in its programme.
In this programme, it aims to provide the following support:
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Early assessment of immediate needs based on regular contacts with the families.
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Offer practical help, befriending (to children) and provide intensive support to primary caregivers/remaining parent to manage their financial, emotional and related challenges and situations. This might include counseling sessions (i.e. family interventions) to build on the relationship and support for each other within the family.
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Support network for children who share similar experiences of their parents in and out of prison. This would be achieved through a support group setting (8 times a year) runs on special themes to inculcate values for children (aged 5-12) to cope more effectively and foster a stronger bond with their incarcerated parent/s.
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Encourage the children to remain proactive in keeping close contact with their parent/s while they serve their jail term and after he/she is released from prison.
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Offer a listening ear and conduit for imprisoned fathers' and mothers' expressions of concern inside prisons, to address them and provide a platform for discussion to cope with their anxiety of returning home.
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Through other meaningful activities (i.e. family outings, family camps & etc).
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