Opening Doors
In The FamilySM

To the extent that incarceration disrupts existing family bonds, former prisoners face greater difficulties in establishing stable family lives.

Opening Doors In The FamilySM uses qualified family mediators to rebuild fractured communication between offenders and their families. For the past 5 years, Opening Doors® participants have asked us to do more. In the near future, offenders who have completed the 3-day program will be asked if they want to work on strengthening family relationships. If they do, we plan to combine Interactive Journaling® with relationship skill-building curriculum to prepare offenders and family members to begin their work with a mediator. While Christian family mediators are highly encouraged, the ministry will not exclusively use faith-based mediators and the service will be provided to offenders without regard to faith beliefs or practices.

The plan is to make mediators available at no cost to qualified offenders who complete the Opening Doors® program and the preparatory work for mediation. As a result, we are actively seeking funding to begin this work in the adult and juvenile prisons.

There are more than 47,500 families across Ohio whose lives have been impacted because someone they love is in prison. Won't you volunteer and help a family in your community bridge the gap caused by incarceration. It is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of generational incarceration.