Sometimes the easiest way for children to express their feelings is by drawing. However, when you see these drawings, you will instantly know that these kids are sad, scared and confused. They are created by children who have at least one parent that has been or is currently in prison. The drawings feature broken hearts, knives, blood and pain.
Next to the drawings are words like “My heart is bleeding; my heart is a broken bleeding heart.” These young artists are part of a program called No More Victims. Many have been raised in at-risk environments, without good role models and who, like their parents, could end up going to prison at some point in their lives.
Marilyn Gambrell, a former Texas parole officer and founder of No More Victims, seeks to break this vicious circle. In 1993, she founded this non-profit organization which is dedicated to helping kid and teenagers whose parents are in jail.
She says her “goal is for this child to feel healthy enough and healed that they didn’t want to take their own life or someone else’s. Just give them what they need, love them, support them, provide basic needs.”
Numbers don’t lie and the numbers on incarcerated parents is astonishing. According to Justice Department estimates, 2.3 percent of American children under the age of 18 have at least one parent in prison. 52 % of those in a state prison and 63% of those in a federal prison reported having an estimated total of 1,706,600 minor children.
In 2000, Gambrell took her No More Victims organization to a local Texas high school where many students had first-hand knowledge of the effects of having parents in prison. Wanting to provide support and love for these kids, Gambrell also opened “a community center where teens could take care of basic necessities such as getting food and diapers for their own kids and doing their laundry.”
For the members of No More Victims the community center is like a home and Gambrell is like a mom. She’s “on-call” to these kids 24 hours a day, seven days a week and her simple, practical approach works well. Since 2000, only 22 of the 700 kids who enrolled have gone to jail and many have graduated from high school.
The idea that “art therapy” versus more traditional forms of therapy, can more quickly and more easily help a child open up about their feelings is supported by child counselors.
By giving kids and teens an outlet through which they can express their feelings, Gambrell created a safe way for them to express their experiences and fears.
Mary Ellen Hluska, a child life specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, says “I think it’s effective because it helps them have a safe place to express what they’ve been through without using words.” (The art) “becomes a tangible object. It’s there, and they don’t have to say it.”
Before beginning their drawings, Gambrell teaches the kids students to use red pencils if they want to express pain and anger and blue ones to represent feelings of calmness and peace.
“I knew it would be deep because … I had red and blue pencils for them, and no child wanted a blue one,” said Gambrell.
“In the first exercise, everybody requested red,” Gambrell said. “And some children had four and five red pencils. They drew so much and colored so hard that they actually broke the lead.”
Shante Weaver is a success story of No More Victims. At 20 years old, her mother had been in and out of jail for most of her life and she never really knew her father. Shante used a lot of red when she first started drawing pictures.
At 15, through her art, Shante had a breakthrough and was finally able to talk about all that had happened to her and also inspired other classmates to open up about their experiences. With Gambrell’s support and those of her fellow classmates, she found the courage to press charges against a man who for many years had abused her. Today, Weaver works two jobs to support her family, including her grandmother with whom she lives. She also studies at a local community college and wants to become a nurse.
Weaver credits No More Victims with helping her get on the right track and is still an active member of the group, where she likes to be a role model to those just coming in.