NORWICH – Coinciding with the nation’s increasing prison population, one local organization is taking an aggressive approach to helping the littlest victims – the children who are being raised while their parent or parents are behind bars.

Eleven Big Brother Big Sister organizations nationwide are collaborating with New York State’s Children of Promise program to provide services to children of prisoners in up to 32 counties across New York. The initiative is made possible due to a grant provided by the Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.

Locally, Big Bother Big Sister Director, Kobie Decker said her goal is to pair about 50 children in Chenango County with adult volunteer mentors, and then move on to help kick off the initiative in Broome County during the second year of the program.

The newly-hired director said the effort is designed to help children who may be in need of a positive role model. “Many of the students who will be served may not have many positive role models at home,” she said.

New York’s Children of Promise represents a state-wide expansion of an existing program that has served the counties of Ulster, Dutchess and Orange for the past three years and has served 276 children to date.

Led by BBBS of Ulster County, the agencies will tap into 103 years of combined mentioning experience in an effort to break the intergenerational cycle of crime and incarceration plaguing children who have fallen victim to being raised by others when their parents are serving time.