Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 1, 1994 TAG: 9412010103
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When Wilbert Lewis was sent to Pulaski Correctional Center in 1991 to serve an 18-month sentence for violating probation, he left behind two young daughters.
Lewis said he felt he had failed his children, then 5 and 2. He was not a provider, not a nurturer, not at all like his own father.
"My father was there for me, to listen to my problems, to just be there when I needed a shoulder to lean on," said Lewis, of Roanoke. "I felt I had let [my children] down, not being able to be a father to help support them."
But as his 1992 release date approached, Lewis started looking for someone or something to help him re-establish his relationship with his children. He became involved in TAP-Virginia CARES, a statewide program headquartered in Roanoke that helps prisoners move from incarceration to their home community.
Becoming a good father, Lewis said, was crucial to a successful transition into life outside of a prison cell.
"It was difficult at first, trying to do the right thing for my little girls," he said. "I didn't know what to say to them at first. But after a while, everything came together."
Lewis, 33, is one of several Virginia CARES clients whose successes will be celebrated this evening at the program's second annual Father-Child Banquet.
The banquet's theme is "You are somebody's hero."
"Our purpose is to recognize parents, especially fathers, who have re-entered society successfully and re-established relationships with their children," said Rosana Anderson, the program's director.
"You always hear about people committing crime. But you never hear about people struggling, trying to re-enter and have a relationship with their kids."
Eighty-five percent of program participants are men. Giving them recognition was important to Anderson.
"I know it's a struggle," she said. "And we wanted to acknowledge that they are trying to make a difference in their lives and their children's lives. Not all of them do."
Virginia CARES, funded primarily through the state Department of Criminal Justice, provides pre- and post-release education, counseling and services in employment, housing, family/community relations and transportation.
The program's clients have served time for a range of offenses, including robbery and multiple murder.
The program has about 1,500 clients on file in the Roanoke Valley, Anderson says. About 50 of them are "active" each month, she says. Rarely are clients terminated from the program, Anderson says.
"Even if things are going well for them, they may have a crisis. We try to be their crisis intervention," she said. "A person may be doing real well on the job and lose it and need some assistance. It's like a revolving door."
Part of the program's pre-release curriculum helps clients set goals for life beyond incarceration. That includes family relationships.
"I find a lot of times, the guys will start reflecting on their past and how they got where they are and where they're going to go from here," Anderson said. "They decide they need to make some changes in their lives. Family and family ties are an important part of that."
Lewis, who was on probation for a 1984 robbery when he was sent back to prison, attributes much of his success in getting his life on track to the mother of his children. Though they no longer are together, "she won't let me do anything wrong. She wants me to go ahead and do the right thing in life. She gives me hell if I don't do right by the kids."
Lewis has a job assembling parts for a vacuum cleaner distributor in Roanoke. He joined a church. He avoids old habits the best he can, though the temptations are frequent.
While Lewis does not have custody of his daughters, he spends "every chance I get" with them, he said.
"I'm trying to become a father figure, someone my girls can look to and say, `I want to be like him.'''
by CNB