"We’re not saying we are pro-war, we are not saying we believe in incarceration or that the parents deserve to be in jail. “We look at it through the lens of a young child," she says. While broader discussions are warranted, Chwatsky explains that whenever Sesame Workshop approaches any tough topics, such as deployment, death, and incarceration, the organization's focus is purposefully narrow. maybe, while we provide these band-aids for now, what we really need is a rethink of our entire criminal justice system, one that has become not only the nation’s biggest holding cell for people with addictions, but also its largest psychiatric system - albeit one that only rarely provides evidence-based treatment for either addictions or other mental illnesses." She writes: “Should we really see better tips for caregivers of children with incarcerated parents as the best way to mitigate the harm?. News of the iniative has also sparked a national debate about the effects of incarceration, with many, like Maia Szalavitz, a neuroscience journalist for, using it as a springboard to address the current state of the criminal justice system. It would not reach and impact the audience that Sesame Street will.“ “I realize that if all the advocates for children of incarcerated parents worked for an entire lifetime to increase awareness, we could not do what Sesame will do with this initiative. Lots of those kids are left unattended.”īurton underscored the importance of the Sesame Workshop project, stressing the effect it will have on the individuals and organizations it's targeting. Children are left back in the community - communities that are often ravaged by drugs, crime and violence. When someone is incarcerated, institutions are responsible for their custody and care. "They are the collateral damage," Burton says in an interview with the Sesame Workshop blog. Burton described the kids who have parents in jail as “the silent victims of the war on crime.” Burton, the Executive Director of Centerforce, a non-profit which supports individuals and families impacted by incarceration. To produce the tool-kit, Sesame Workshop turned to experts such as Carol F. “I don’t like to talk about it, most people don’t understand.” The video then goes through the feelings Alex and other children of incarcerated parents have: sadness, anger, and shame. At first Alex doesn’t explain why he’s unhappy talking about his dad, but then he opens up. Video clips featuring Alex and his Sesame Street friends are used to introduce the subject. “We want to take that away and say this impacts any child.” “We want this not to be about race, gender or ethnicity, said Chwatsky, who headed the project. Lynn Chwatsky, Vice President of Sesame Workshop’s Outreach Initiatives and Partners, said a lot of thought was put into Alex’s appearance. He was created specifically for Sesame Workshop’s new outreach initiative, Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration, an online tool-kit adults can use to help kids understand and cope with the incarceration of a loved one. Alex won't be appearing on episodes of the show. He’s orange with blue hair and a green nose.
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