New Hope program helps children whose parents are incarcerated - KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports

(KYTX) - One program promises to keep children with parents in prison from getting locked up themselves.

The New Hope program in Oklahoma is helping children cope with the anger this kind of circumstance can bring.

It helps children find ways work through their feelings, and avoid the same mistakes -- with positive role models teaching children the right way to live.

"I might be the only positive male figure in their life," says Tshaka Rivers. "One of the girls, in front of her mom, grabbed my arm and said 'I wish you were my daddy' -- I mean what do you say?"

Children with a parent in prison are five times more likely to end up in prison themselves. But none of the children in the New Hope program over the past decade have gone to jail.