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SALT LAKE CITY — "Sesame Street" has tackled hunger, divorce, military deployment, even the loss of a friend when we all said goodbye to the beloved grocer Mr. Hooper. Now, the long-running kids TV show is going where no Muppet has gone before: prison.
Alex is the first Sesame Muppet to have a parent who's in jail. "I don't usually want people to know about my dad," he tells friends Zoe and Abbie.
Alex isn't part of the regular Sesame Street cast, but stars in an online initiative — a tool kit, really — called "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration."
According to a Pew Charitable Trusts report, one in 28 children in the United States now has a parent who's behind bars. That's more than the number of kids with a deployed military parent.
A nonprofit organization called Centerforce that helps these families said the kids need to know they're loved, and the situation isn't their fault.
The special episode will not air on TV but is available online at www.sesamestreet.org/parents/topicsandactivities/toolkits/incarceration.
