蜜桃影视

It looks like just another ordinary day at (CMOM). A dozen mothers and about 30 children are exploring the hands-on PlayWorks exhibition, making art, cuddling or enjoying a snack.

But something is different. For one thing, all the moms are wearing identical black pants and white shirts. For another, armed officers are standing all around the perimeter of the exhibit.

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Leslie Bushara, CMOM鈥檚 chief program officer and Kelvin Chan, managing director of early childhood at Robin Hood, explored Family Connections in a recent interview with Early Learning Nation. It’s an experimental program that allows incarcerated parents to spend two hours with their children each month, away from Rikers Island 鈥� New York City鈥檚 largest jail. CMOM trips for the women started in 2018, and the first trips for incarcerated men and their children began in October 2022. Robin Hood is a funder of the program.

Bushara, who helped to initiate the program with support of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray, says, 鈥淧arents in custody are spending time with their children in a learning environment that is designed to support bonding, connection and healthy relationships.鈥�

Because nobody 鈥� not even the staff 鈥� is allowed cellphones during the visits, she notes that there are no distractions for parents and their children, which allows for a deeply focused experience.

鈥淭he majority of women on Rikers are moms,鈥� says Chan. 鈥淭he majority of men on Rikers are dads. This partnership with the Department of Correction represents a formative step towards humanizing the population on Rikers.鈥� He adds that the participants are pre-trial, meaning they haven鈥檛 been convicted.

CMOM is in the process of installing permanent exhibition elements at Rikers, as it has done in more than 40 homeless shelters around the city. So why have the encounters at the museum rather than at the jail? Although children are allowed to visit, Bushara explains, the experience is far from ideal. 鈥淚t can take two hours to get through security with multiple checkpoints,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is a very difficult experience for young children with many restrictions, including how much time they can spend with their parent in custody and a lot of the women say, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want my child to see me here.鈥欌��

Kelly Escobar, director of the Fund for Early Learning, notes that for young children, the environment can be just as important as the people they are with. “Prison visitation rooms are not welcoming. It is important for children to feel secure, excited, welcomed and loved, and the spaces at CMOM are special and warm. In them, it is easier for children and parents to connect, to have meaningful interactions, to feel like a family once again.”

The incarcerated participants come by bus in shackles and handcuffs, but they are provided with street clothes as an alternative to DOC jumpsuits. The children, accompanied by their custodial caregivers (grandparents, older siblings, family friends), wait inside CMOM to greet them. Sometimes there are tears. Sometimes there is awkwardness. But there is always great emotion.

One young father said, 鈥淚 thought I would be sad when my daughter left, but instead I feel hopeful. Like I know the next step to take to make good, get out of Rikers and be a good dad.鈥�

Fulfilling CMOM鈥檚 mission to serve all children and families, the trips support close, healthy relationships between incarcerated parents and their children鈥攆or the good of both parties, as well as society. Naturally, they are conditional upon good behavior, and they have the added benefit of allowing DOC personnel to see women in custody as parents, not as criminals. They have also proved to be a powerful incentive to comply with the rules of conduct. Rikers officers report an improvement in behavior across the board, a pattern they hope continues after incarceration.

One participant told Bushara, 鈥淚t made me realize how much time I鈥檓 missing with my child, and I can鈥檛 get time back. I need to do better. My child needs me, and I need my child. I have to get out of Rikers and stay out.鈥� She reports another saying, “I feel hopeful. My family feels hopeful.”

Chan views the program as a means of preventing repeat offenses. 鈥淥ur mass incarceration machinery is dehumanizing,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd the system propagates adverse childhood experiences. This is the first step towards building those protective factors that are so necessary to end the intergenerational transmission of trauma, injustice and inequity.鈥�

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 蜜桃影视. Learn more here.