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In other TWTC news, Chicago-area children whose mothers are incarcerated at the Decatur Correctional Center will be able interact with their mothers via live video teleconferencing in a new program announced TWTC and the Illinois Department of Corrections' Parent and Child Together ( PACT ) program.

"These families are in crisis and children whose mothers are incarcerated are at higher risk for learning difficulties," said TWTC's Executive Director Dr. Jewell Oates. "This program directly benefits these children, while providing a parenting skill to mothers so that when they are reunited with their children they can continue to create a strong learning environment."

The PACT program is part of a national family literacy program model that brings parents and children together in a select learning environment. The program features interactive parent-child literacy activities that strengthen the learning relationship between parents and kids by helping parents feel more empowered to be their children's primary teacher. Studies show that this kind of relationship results in improved learning for children, better literacy rates and higher high-school graduation rates.

Fifteen to 20 families will be served each week at Madison Place, The Women's Treatment Center second stage recovery home on the Near West Side of Chicago. Twenty hours of live video teleconferencing per week will allow mothers to take an active, hands-on role in their children's education despite being separated by hundreds of miles. A parenting specialist will be in the room with the children, helping mothers and their kids read together and providing other assistance as appropriate. The Illinois Department of Corrections' PACT program is funded by a federal grant that will provide the necessary video equipment for TWTC to implement the program. "Companions Journeying Together," a nonprofit organization based in Western Springs, Illinois, donated books.

Call Dr. Jewell Oates at The Women's Treatment Center, ( 312 ) 850-0050.