Va. Prison Program Provides Deeper Mother-Child Bond

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By Associated Press

Published: 07/16/2003

Teresa D. Mullins has been locked up for 16 years _ with at least 16 more to go _ but she still has found a way to play an active role in raising her five children.
It's called MILK, or Mothers Inside Loving Kids, a prison parenting program buttressed for the past three years at Virginia's largest women's prison by Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, a national effort to bring Girl Scout values and activities to prison mothers and their children.
'This is how I've raised my children,' along with her mother on the outside, said Mullins, 46, during a recent Saturday gathering of prison moms, their children and other relatives at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, a maximum-security prison about 15 miles east of Charlottesville.
Mullins' children are grown, but she remains a member of MILK, which she joined in 1990 soon after it was created at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women in Goochland.
The program is 'a way I could spend quality time with my kids and maintain a maternal bond,' said Mullins, sent up for murder.
Nurturing that bond is important for both mother and child, said clinical psychologist Ann Loper, a professor at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education.
'Most of these women are going to be reunited with their kids,' said Loper. 'But they are going to be reunited after this very abrupt change where they will have been separated. Figuring out how to maintain that bond in a way that affirms to the child that they are loved and cared for ... can be very, very important in the reunification process.'
Even for mothers serving life sentences, 'it is very important for the children to process what is going on, to make sense of it,' Loper said. 'By maintaining the bond, the child is given the opportunity to know they are still loved.'
Loper said studies show that children of imprisoned mothers are six times more likely to get into trouble with the law by their teen years.
But none of Mullins' five children, ranging in age from 19 to 29, has wound up in prison, she said.
While family visits at Fluvanna are restricted to two hours a week, the MILK/Girl Scout program allows six visits annually that run up to five hours each.
At the recent gathering, children frolicked in the prison gym, shooting baskets, spinning hula hoops and watching a big-screen TV. They ate snacks and drank sodas. Outside, parents and children tossed a flying disc and kicked a soccer ball.
'In visitation the children pretty much sit in chairs' in one room, said Sharon Dunn, a prison counselor and case manager who organized the MILK program at Fluvanna. In the gym and on the ball field, 'moms can play with children in more of a natural setting.'
Mullins said the program also allows the children of imprisoned mothers to form friendships. 'It's almost like a huge relief when they see there are other kids going through the same thing they are,' she said.
Last year the national Girl Scouts received $2 million from the Justice Department for about 25 Girl Scouts Beyond Bars programs around the country. The Virginia Skyline Girl Scout Council received $40,000 for the Fluvanna program.
The 35 to 40 inmates who participate in the program must have behaved themselves in prison, and they must have no record of harming children. There is a long waiting list for the program.
Sarah Dansey, service area director for the Skyline Council, organized the Girl Scout part of the program at Fluvanna with the idea of helping mothers and children grow closer and instilling Girl Scout values such as honesty, respect for authority, friendliness and personal courage.
It's 'a pound or more of prevention to give kids something to grow with and stay out of trouble,' said Dansey.
Inmate Shanna Hackey, mother of 6-year-old Melody, helped organize the recent event, which included Girl Scout activities such as face painting and drawing pictures that express the children's feelings.
'We're trying to help them realize what their feelings are and open up and express them,' said Hackey, 24, serving four years for a robbery in Prince William County.
Jonathan Green, 13, drew a picture of his mother, Deborah S. Green, four years into a 28-year sentence for murder in Wise County. Jonathan lives in Norton in southwestern Virginia, too far away for regular weekend visits with his mother. He comes to Fluvanna a half-dozen times a year for the MILK program. 'These visits are very, very special to me,' said Deborah Green, 37.
Janet K. Brazeal, 30, of Hopewell, said when she was first incarcerated, her son Tyler, 9, 'shut down,' but their communication has improved because of the MILK and Girl Scout programs.
'He's able to open up more now and talk to me,' said Brazeal, scheduled for release in March 2004 after serving six years for forgery.
Brazeal suddenly hurried away to stand count with the other MILK inmates. 'I hate it when this moment comes because she has to leave for a minute,' said her son.

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