The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center partnered with the St. Mary’s County Department of Social Service and successfully obtained funding through a Federal Domestic Assistance grant. The grant funds will be used to hire a Resource Coordinator to work with the Department of Social Services to provide job placement and readiness assistance to non-custodial parents who are incarcerated for non-violent offenses.
A majority of inmates are parents with children under the age of 18 years and many of them have formal child support obligations. Child Support Enforcement Agencies along with the St. Mary’s County Department of Social Services and the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office is seeking effective methods of working with incarcerated persons for their successful re-entry into the community. Incarcerated non-custodial parents are easily accessible in detention center settings and responds positively to outreach efforts by child support enforcement personnel.
The objective of the Resource Coordinator is to assist with the identification and removal of the barriers preventing non-custodial incarcerated parent from obtaining gainful employment once released from the St. Mary’s County Detention Center and to assist with modification of the existing child support order while the non-custodial parent is incarcerated. Released non-custodial parents who are not able to obtain gainful employment will not be in a position to meet their child support obligation which may result in the individual being re-incarcerated. The goal of the program is to encourage payment of child support among the program participants and to reduce recidivism.
The Resource Coordinator will work closely with other community agencies with the intent and purpose of aligning the non-custodial parent with services which will lead to successful employment. Referrals may include substance abuse and mental health counseling; GED, adult education, vocational training or job placement programs. Referrals may also include non-profit or faith based organizations for assistance with housing, transportation or other financial support upon release. Only inmates who are not incarcerated for “crimes of violence” will be eligible for the program.
Grant funding for the Non-Custodial Resource Coordinator grant position is one year. The position will be under the leadership and guidance of the St. Mary’s County Department of Social Services having collaborative coordination with the St. Mary’s County Detention Center.
Hiring a Non-Custodial Resource Coordinator will begin the first phase of Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron’s Pre-Release and Re-Entry Services program.