Lawyers participating in the VOLS Incarcerated Mothers Law Project provide one-on-one legal counseling to mothers on child custody and visiting issues at the city's jail on Rikers Island, and at two state medium security prisons — Taconic Correctional Facility located in Bedford Hills and Bayview Correctional Facility located at 550 West 20th Street in Manhattan.

       In 2010, 170 mothers in jail or prison received individual legal counseling from pro bono lawyers in this project.  A total of 536 individual legal visits with mothers were conducted by lawyers, since many of the mothers are seen multiple times because of the complexity of their cases.

       Additional mothers attended group legal information sessions conducted by lawyers.  These sessions focus on helping incarcerated mothers have a better appreciation and understanding of basic family law concepts.  Their purpose is to help incarcerated mothers know and assert their rights; understand their responsibilities, and exercise legal options available to them while they are in jail or prison.  Topics covered during these sessions include involuntary and voluntary foster care placement; kinship foster care; reunification; participation in permanency planning hearings; termination of parental rights; conditional surrenders; legal standards for establishing custody and visitation; and guardianship.

       The legal issues addressed by the pro bono lawyers working in this project stem from the very basic desire of mothers to continue their relationships with their children while incarcerated. For many such mothers, visits with their children are infrequent or non-existent. There are serious legal consequences to this separation. Mothers face great obstacles to making visits happen. They need forceful legal advocates to work on their behalf.  According to the New York State Department of Correctional Services, more than 5,180 children have a mother incarcerated in a state prison.

       Mothers make these requests:

• "Can you help me find my children?" The children may be in foster care, adopted, living with a relative, or lost in the system.
• "I know where my children are, but their family caretaker won't bring them for a visit, or allow me to contact them by phone or letter.  Can you help me?"
• "What can I do to avoid losing my children?"
• "I need to go to court." (At court-mandated hearings, judges review foster care agency plans for the child.)
• "A termination of parental rights proceeding has been started against me.  How can I keep my children?"
• "My parental rights have been terminated.  Will I ever be able to see my children again?"
• "I am soon getting out of prison.  I want to re-unite with my children.  What do I need to do?"

       Why are these visits important?

• In New York State, the implementation of the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act has paved the way to move children out of foster care more quickly and into adoptive homes.  The law requires the state to move to terminate the rights of parents whose children have been in foster care for 15 months out of any 22-month period.  While there are exceptions to this policy, incarceration is not one of them.   The potential consequences for incarcerated parents can be extremely serious, even when the parent is serving a relatively short sentence.
   
• "Maintaining family ties can mitigate the destructive aspects of parental incarceration by helping children process their mother's absence, easing family reunification when a mother returns home, bolstering children's well-being and healthy development, and decreasing the likelihood that a mother will return to prison." (Report of the Correctional Association of New York, "The Effects of Imprisonment on Families," March, 2008.)
   
• A recent study undertaken by Professors Daniel P. Mears and William D. Bales at Florida University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice highlights, in their words, "the profound isolation inmates experience from society and their family and friends.  We also found something more striking—visited inmates' odds of recidivating were reduced by 30 percent."

       Here are case examples:

• Client needed assistance in ensuring that a relative had necessary papers to care for the child while the client was incarcerated.  The lawyer prepared the documents. These documents will make it possible for the guardian to enroll the child in school, consent to medical care, and obtain public benefits for the child.
   
• An incarcerated mother had not seen her son in nearly eight years.  Her volunteer lawyer, after meeting with her in prison, vigorously advocated with the father on the desirability of reuniting mother and son.  The father was persuaded to visit the mother in prison, bringing her a photo of their son.  Following the visit, the mother received a visit from her son.  Elated by her son's visit, the mother wrote the lawyer: "I want to thank you so so much for working hard on my case and never giving up on me or my child.  I really appreciate everything you have done to bring me my son into my life.  You have made me a happy woman and you have accomplished to make my dream come true, reuniting mother and child to have the chance to see each other."  The lawyer writes of the mother, "Seeing how her face, demeanor and body language has changed (arguably as a result of these recent events) is truly inspiring."
   
• Client has two children in kinship foster care.  After the volunteer lawyer reviewed legal papers, the lawyer found that the mother's concerns regarding her children were not being taken into account.  The lawyer was able to bring the mother's concerns into the review process by showing that she was a model prisoner and had completed requisite parenting programs.
   
• An incarcerated mother wrote her pro bono lawyer: "I want to thank you so much for all of your help.  I did get my visit with my son on July 4th.  I'm still in shock!  I can't believe how grown my son is.  I just kept staring at him in amazement!  That was truly a blessing to see him!"
   
• Another incarcerated mother wrote her lawyer: "I want to take time to thank you for not leaving/giving up on me.  I know I can be very…What's the word you used? (Yeah, that!).  But you found it somewhere deep within you to push past that and move forward with me.  No one in my life has ever thought enough of me to stick it out with me and because of your dedication, I've learned patience and self-control."
   
• A volunteer lawyer participating in this project writes: "We serve as advocates for a constantly overlooked and underserved population.  While these women have broken the law, imprisonment is a sentence that punishes not only the wrongdoer but their families as well.  I cannot imagine what it is like for these children to go without [family] contact.  I also do this work for the parents…whose children provide them with a reason to keep going, to keep working, and to stay out of prison once they are released.  Preventing contact between an incarcerated parent and his/her child is devastating and depressing.  I like to hope that the work we do with these women and their families contributes to breaking the cycle of incarceration that so often pervades generations of families.  And I know that our presence in these correctional facilities serves as a beacon of hope for all the women incarcerated there.  I cannot think of a more essential and fulfilling experience."