Every Tuesday, vans carrying children who are eager to see their incarcerated parents roll up to the Rikers Island jail complex.  They are the only visitors allowed into the jails on that particular day, which enables them to spend the kind of quality time with their parents they need to maintain family bonds.  These special visiting sessions were not always permitted at Rikers, however; they are the result of the hard work and cooperation of two separate New York City agencies with very different missions.

The New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) and Administration for Child Services (ACS) joined forces in 2000 to create a visitation program that would allow families to remain unified while parents are incarcerated and their children are in foster care.  Although the project was a huge undertaking, both agencies realized the importance of the task at hand.

"The parent-child relationship is the most important one to any child, really," said Tanya Krupat, Director of ACS's Children of Incarcerated Parents Program (CHIPP).  "When you work with the kids, you see how much their parents mean to them."

For children whose parents are incarcerated, maintaining this relationship can be difficult due to transportation barriers and security concerns at correctional facilities.  Together, the NYC DOC and ACS devised a plan to help children of all ages visit their parents in jail.

"The Department of Corrections had been accommodating ACS foster care [children] for some time," said Leasa McLeish, Assistant Commissioner for Programs, Management and Development for the NYC DOC.  "[But], there was no planned program for children in foster care who must visit their parents who are incarcerated."

In light of this, when ACS approached the DOC to create the CHIPP Visiting Program at Rikers Island, the department was open to the idea. 

"It started with a mutual learning process," said Krupat.  "We needed to have [a] conversation to understand each other's mandates and missions and how we [could] work together."   

Once each agency's goals and objectives were laid out on the table, the DOC and ACS were poised to launch a combined effort aimed at keeping incarcerated mothers and fathers connected to the children they left behind.

Small Changes, Big Differences

While ACS provided transportation to Rikers for children and their escorts, usually a foster parent or caseworker, the DOC also made some special arrangements in order to make visitation easier for inmates and their children.  Most importantly, the department scheduled weekly CHIPP program visits for Tuesdays, a day when regular visits are not allowed.  In addition, the department allowed the ACS vans that deliver the children to drive right up to the visiting house and drop them off.

"What we did was facilitate the process so that these two groups could get together," said McLeish.  "[Having the vans drive directly up to the facility] doesn't usually happen," said McLeish. 

Also, because children are coming into the facility, the DOC decided to cover up the contraband posters that are hanging on the walls, displaying items such as knives.  And, they allowed toys, like board games and trucks, to be stored on the premises, a practice that is very unusual for a jail.

"I know these may be little things, but they aren't small when it comes to the safety and security of the institution," said McLeish.

The DOC also does other "little things" to enhance the visits between incarcerated parents and their children.  For example, they have inmates screened and prepared for the visits before the children arrive.  Then, the parents and children can enjoy a full two hours together, a time when they can freely interact.

"There are no restrictions.  The parents can hug, kiss and feed them," said Krupat.  "The parents can chase around their little ones."

"They play games with [the kids]," added McLeish.  "There's a level of interaction for them that makes them feel like [they are] part of a family, even though they are in jail."

Correctional officers supervise these visits and, according to Krupat, they have largely contributed to the success of the program.

"We have built relationships with certain correctional officers who have really been key to making the program work," said Krupat.  "It works best I think when you have the same officers assigned to the visiting room."

McLeish, too, commends the DOC staff for stepping out of their traditional custodial roles in order to make the kids feel more comfortable at the jail.

"They help the inmates [to prepare for the visits].  They help the child coming in, they treat them like a child," said McLeish.  "While it's a different experience, they do their job and they do it well."

Mutual Benefits

According to Krupat, the freedom that the DOC allows parents to have during their visiting time with their children is key to maintaining the parent-child bond.  It also reminds them that they are parents, too, not just offenders, she said.

"[The visits] help put the parents back in a parenting role," said Krupat.  "Having these visits is really a huge motivating factor."

According to Krupat, seeing their children on a regular basis is a driving force for many parents to pursue substance abuse treatment and life skills education so they can better care for their kids when they return home.

The weekly visits also keep the inmates calmer and more stable, McLeish said, which keeps Rikers Island a safer place.

"The visits work wonders for the [inmates]," McLeish said.  "If the inmates are not frustrated [by not being able to see their families], their violence goes down," she added.  "It's good both for the institution and the family."

And the program works well for both the ACS and DOC.

"It took us a while to get here," said McLeish.  "[But], this is a special collaboration between both agencies which I think is just fantastic."

Resources:

To contact NYC ACS, call (212) 341-0900

To contact the NYC DOC, call (212) 266-1000