Senate committee reviews H.219 to expand Lund’s Kids Apart parenting program to men’s facility

The Vermont Senate Committee on Institutions on March 18, 2025, heard testimony on H.219, a bill to codify and expand Lund’s Kids Apart parenting program and to fund a pilot of the program at a men’s correctional facility; witnesses described services for incarcerated parents and their children and said a funding source has been identified in the House.

Ken Chats, interim CEO of Lund, told the committee, "we really appreciate the partnership that we've had with the Department of Corrections to provide currently a family support program for the women in the women's correctional facility in Chittenden County," and said Lund seeks to make the existing program whole and expand it to a men’s facility.

The bill matters, proponents said, because parent-child contact is limited for many incarcerated people and because maintaining family ties can affect child wellbeing and reentry outcomes. "The goal of this program is to reduce the impact, the traumatic impact on a child when a parent is incarcerated," said Jess Kellen, Kids Apart coordinator at Lund.

What the program does

Witnesses described Kids Apart services now operating in women’s facilities and proposed to mirror those services for men. Kim LaRoche, director of parent-child center services at Lund, said services include orientation and individualized intake for parents, in-facility case management, a community-based case manager to work with caregivers, family-friendly visitation spaces, parent-education groups, virtual visits and storybook/video recordings mailed to children. LaRoche said Lund also helps with practical supports such as gas cards and, when appropriate, hotel rooms to increase caregivers’ ability to attend visits.

Program history and scope

LaRoche told the committee Kids Apart has provided services inside women’s facilities since 2003 and has been based in the current facility since 2011. Committee members were given survey results Lund conducted at Northern State (Newport) in December to gauge interest among incarcerated men. Lund reported 98 survey respondents who identified as parents of minor children. According to testimony, survey findings included: about 88 percent of respondents reported some contact with their children prior to incarceration; 68 percent had approved calling-list access while incarcerated; 50 percent reported video visits during incarceration; and 48 percent reported being on visitation lists. LaRoche told the panel that about 6,000 Vermont children each year are impacted by having a parent connected to the Department of Corrections.

Barriers and supports

Testimony identified common barriers to in-person visits: distance, transportation, and caregiver availability. Lund staff said they work with caregivers to identify local supports and will provide transportation-related assistance where appropriate. Lund also described efforts to enable incarcerated parents to participate in family-court hearings by facilitating court access via court-owned virtual devices; staff said that at present similar access is available in one facility but is absent in most others.

Funding and logistics

LaRoche told senators the current Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility contract totals $161,003.38 and that Lund currently supplements program costs with roughly $150,000 a year in fundraising and grants because the DOC contract does not fully cover both inside and outside case management. LaRoche said starting a new program in a men’s facility would require approximately $268,000 to begin operations.

Haley Summer, communications director for the Department of Corrections, told the committee that the original H.219 request in the bill proposed $400,000 from the state general fund but that DOC and the House Appropriations Committee "did identify, around $390,000 in justice reinvestment funds." Summer said those justice-reinvestment funds have been appropriated to the state but not yet assigned to a specific entity and that using them could support base funding rather than a single one-year appropriation.

Evaluation and staff perspectives

Lund said it plans to partner with the University of Vermont for program evaluation and proposed pre- and post-surveys of participating parents and caregivers, tracking enrollment and sustained engagement, and collecting caregiver feedback at intake and exit. Committee members and DOC staff said they could survey correctional officers’ perspectives before and after program implementation; DOC staff also described Northern State as a likely pilot site because of facility size, physical visiting space and a higher proportion of sentenced men compared with regional jails.

Committee questions and next steps

Committee members asked about data verification, differences between facilities, and the need to codify a program that already exists in practice for women. Lund and DOC witnesses said codifying the pilot and identifying a stable funding source would help sustain expansion; DOC staff offered facility tours and said they would work with the committee on bill language. No formal vote or committee action on H.219 was taken at the hearing.

Ending

The committee did not take a vote on H.219 at the March 18 session; members said they will review bill language, follow up with technical questions, and consider a site visit to see Lund’s visitation space in person.