Contact: Melody Bentley, 571-274-6058

WARRENTON, Mo., April 5, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- What is Child Evangelism Fellowship, the largest Christian ministry to children in the world, doing in the nation's prisons and jails? "It is the best way to reach the children of prisoners, and if we can help the prisoners along the way all the better," said Mrs. Debbie Walsh, Director of Prison Ministry for Child Evangelism Fellowship, headquartered in Warrenton, Missouri.

The children of prisoners are especially hard to find. With one or sometimes both parents incarcerated these children are often moved frequently from one caregiver to another. Many of these children and their families hide their situation. Yet these children desperately need help. According to a U.S. Senate report, these children are six times more likely to be imprisoned sometime during their lives. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find parents and their children behind bars. On a recent trip to a federal prison in Pennsylvania, Mrs. Walsh was told by an inmate, "I have two sons in prison and their mother is in prison, too."

CEF has found that the best way to find the approximately seven million children who have a parent either in prison or under federal or state supervision, is through those very parents. Each year, Mrs. Walsh, who is a resident of Greensboro, North Carolina, visits an average of 40 prisons around the country where she talks to prisoners during worship services or in their living areas. She supplies the inmates with a booklet entitled "What Went Wrong?" This brief booklet makes the case that a prisoner does not start off with the intention of going to prison. Something goes wrong. "Unless one is unfairly imprisoned, that something is the sin we all must face," said Mrs. Walsh. The booklet explains the gospel and offers the prisoner, and his or her children, the opportunity to enroll in a correspondence program of Bible lessons, called the Truth Chasers Club.

Currently, inmates in 4270 prisons and jails across the United States are enrolled in the Truth Chasers Club. Since the ministry began in 1999, CEF has reached over 200,000 prisoners and 230,000 of their children. Last year alone over 19,000 prisoners enrolled and 26,000 of their children. In recent years, CEF has multiplied its reach by partnering with many Christian ministries who conduct faith-based programs in prisons. These ministries distribute the "What Went Wrong?" booklets during their own programs.

Even though parents may be imprisoned they often maintain enormous influence over their children. "They still are their children's heroes and they can affect their children's future for good or ill," explains Mrs. Walsh. CEF is trying to give them the means to make that future bright.