CNN Reports on Parenting From Prison: "Raising kids in the system"

A recent CNN video "Raising Kids in the System" (27:18 min) reports on the experience of mothers raising kids while navigating the criminal justice system. The short video follows three mothers, one in St. Paul Minnesota involved in the jail doula project at Ramsey County Correctional Facility, a mother involved with "Hour Children" in Queens New York that runs a prison nursery to transitional community housing program, and the third in the Bronx in a diversion program with "JusticeHome” of the Women's Prison Association, a trauma informed alternative to incarceration program. 

Through these stories, we see the need to support alternatives to incarceration as well as the need for programs that help maintain connections for children and their incarcerated parents. We also see the impact of these programs, such as the Hour Children program that boasts a 6% recidivism rate, well below the rate for parents outside of the program. They also touch on the reality that incarceration often means the permanent and legal loss of parental rights, making programs like JusticeHome integral in allowing the parent featured to stay in school, keep her housing and not lose her son to the foster system. The program even seals her record upon completion.