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Shawndell Everson, left, was sentenced to 143 years in prison. His daughter Sanai, 3, is right. Sanai's mother is planning to use a new Sesame Street segment to explain Everson's incarceration to their daughter. (Provided photo)

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse mother Stephanie Richards says she has struggled to explain to her 3-year-old daughter why the girl's father can't leave his small room in a building in Ohio.

"She says, 'I want to see my dad, I need to see my dad,' but she doesn't have a clue what's going on," Richards said of her daughter, whose father Shawndell Everson is serving 143 years in prison for transporting firearms.

Richards tells Sanai Everson that her father was "being bad, and now he's in a place to teach him how to be good."

But she knows the 3-year-old will have to be taught about prison eventually. She fears that moment, worrying that Sanai will be bullied about it by other children or feel like her father wanted to leave her.

Richards now plans on turning to an unexpected source for help: Sesame Street. The kids' show started a new online program this summer to help children with a parent behind bars.

"If she can hear it from someone she can relate to ... It might give her a better understanding of what's going on with her dad," Richards said.

Sesame Street's "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration" has been both praised and criticized. Some say the segment does too much to make a prison sentence appear normal and, therefore, OK.

"Is it me or does this make it seem like jail time is par for the course?," Meredith Jessup wrote for The Blaze, a conservative news source. "There's no guide for driving conversations about what crime has been committed and/or how mommy or daddy could have acted differently ... Instead, the focus seems to be on alleviating the stigma attached to having a parent in prison."

The show introduces the new character of Alex, a Muppet whose father is in prison. In one video, Alex tenses up as the other Muppets talk about their plans with their dads. (Alex's story has not been in the Sesame Street TV show.)

"Sesame Street, in its simple, familiar way, is trying to break (incarceration) down, using imaginary characters to explore -- and explain -- what was once unimaginable," CBS News reported, according to The Atlantic.

In a press release announcing the program, Sesame Street emphasized that a growing number of children have a parent who is incarcerated.

About 2.7 million children have a parent in jail or prison, according to the Pew Research Center.

That number has increased by almost 80 percent in the last 20 years. In 25 years, according to Pew, the number of American children with an incarcerated parent has gone from 1-in-125 to 1-in-28.

"The incarceration of a loved one can be very overwhelming for both children and caregivers," Sesame Street says on its website. "In simple everyday ways, you can comfort your child and guide her through these tough moments. With your love and support, she can get through anything that comes her way."

Richards, 24, a Syracuse native who lives in her childhood home on South Salina Street, says she knows the challenges facing children who have missing fathers. (The father of her first child, 6-year-old Promise Davis, was murdered on New Year's Eve 2012.)

Shawndell Everson, right, was sentenced to 143 years in prison for transporting firearms. The mother of his child, 3-year-old Sanai, worries how their daughter will cope with Shawndell's incarceration. (David Lassman | The Post-Standard)

Having a parent who is incarcerated doubles the odds that children will be homeless, according to Time Magazine. It increases the risk of aggressive child behavior problems by 33 percent and the risk of severe psychological distress by 20 percent, Time Magazine said.

Richards said she doesn't expect the show to be a cure-all. Still, she said she's hoping the world of Cookie Monster, Elmo and Oscar can help her daughter work through one of the greatest struggles of her young life: accepting that dad is gone.

"Sometimes kids are hard-headed -- they don't always listen to their parents," Richards said. "But Big Bird -- that would have her interest all the way."

We're going to check back with Richards after 3-year-old Sanai has watched "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration." We'll let you know how they reacted to the show.



For now, we want to know: What do you think of the program? Take our poll above or leave a comment below.

