Kid Connections
A place for kids, teens and the people who care for them to explore questions, feelings, visits, stories, creativity and the confusing parts of having someone they care about incarcerated.
What do you need today?
This isn't an intake form. It only points you toward a good place to start.
This page should feel like a place, not a pile of links.
Think of Kid Connections like a real room a child can move through. The TV nook holds stories. The toy chest opens the full resource shelf. The phone table helps with calls. The craft desk makes space to write and draw. The bookshelf keeps story tools close. The Arkansas wall map points families to local help.
Step into the room and choose where to start.
Every part of Kid Connections is still here. The room simply turns the page into places a child can move through more naturally.
Pick a helper to walk with you.
A softer doorway into questions, visits, feelings and creating.
Choose what today feels like.
The page can guide you without asking for your whole story.
See the whole shelf first.
Search and filters are optional. Everything starts visible.
The system moves in stages. Families feel every one.
Stories that lead somewhere.
Videos open here, then point to a useful next activity.
Why didn't they call?
Tap a leaf to explore a possible reason. Then use the full Call Decoder below. A possibility is not a conclusion about one missed call.
Practice the call before the call.
What do you want to make sure you say?
Tap as many as you want.
A missed call can feel personal when the reason is invisible.
Tap a possibility. This explains possibilities, not what happened in one specific case.
No scores. Just answers.
Why this exists
Kids often fill silence with explanations: “Was it my fault?” “Did they forget me?” “Do I have to tell people?” This game answers the thought behind the question.
What the heck does that mean?
Pick a word.
See what it means, what it does not automatically mean, and why a kid might care.
Walk through the visit before the visit.
Every facility differs. This prepares the child for what may happen.
Pack a few reminders.
This is a thinking tool, not a list of items allowed inside a facility.
Make something without giving it to the website.
Stuck? Start here.
Nothing typed here is sent to ARI.
Pick it. Preview it. Print it.
Pick what is growing today.
Tap any flower that feels close. You can choose several, change your mind, or choose none at all.
Your feelings can be mixed.
Tap a flower to see a simple reminder about that feeling.
There is no required emotion.
Pick a feeling if you want.
You can also keep scrolling.
No baby talk.
You can care about somebody without pretending this is easy.
School, siblings, privacy, anger, calls, visits, people knowing, nobody knowing and coming home can all get tangled together.
This part of Kid Connections starts there.
Pick a real-life situation.
See what may be true, what is in your control, and words you can use.
Hard questions do not need fake certainty.
Grownup CornerSometimes a story explains what a definition cannot.
Find the facility. Then verify the visit.
Search the Arkansas correctional facility list and use the official source before traveling.
More help, without making families hunt for it.
Trusted national resources plus Arkansas support.
Incarceration Collection
Videos, storybooks, activities and caregiver resources for young children and families.
Open Sesame ResourcesChildren of Incarcerated Parents
Resources for youth, families, schools, corrections staff and caregivers.
Open Youth.govNational Resource Center
Books, films, programs, fact sheets, research and family resources.
Open NRCCFIGrowing & Coping Together
Support for children and adolescents with incarcerated parents or caregivers.
Visit OrganizationMended Hearts & Families
Family support connected to maintaining parent-child bonds during incarceration.
Visit OrganizationADC Visitation
Current official visitation procedures and facility information.
Check ADC Visitation