Having a parent incarcerated is a serious stressor for children as well as the entire family unit. Motherly Intercession, a community-based organization in Flint serves children of incarcerated parents, mostly incarcerated mothers, and their families.
This line of community based work takes place in partnership with Motherly Intercession. We focus on implementing programming for parents and caregivers to strengthen parenting skills and enhance family communication. Programming takes place both at Motherly Intercession (Strengthening Incarcerated Families) and the Genesee County Jail (Bonding from a Distance visitation; Mom2Mom Mentoring, Parenting While Incarcerated). Efforts also focus on evaluating Motherly Intercession’s child-focused programs such as afterschool tutoring in the Reading and Counting to Success (RACS) program. In addition to the direct services provided to families and scientific publications, this work has involved training students in the complex concerns facing the very large number of children with an incarcerated family member, and in conducting community-based research.
This research is a collaboration with Shirley Cochran, Executive Director of Motherly Intercession and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIMH R21MH081921), Michigan Center for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR ULRR024986; U029861-186334), and the State of Michigan Children’s Trust Fund (13-25001).