Mom Let’s Talk: Moms in Prison and their Maternal Needs
First and foremost, an introduction, my name is Victoria Cipriani and I am a senior at Champlain College. Outside of just being a student I am also the developer and creator of Mom, Let’s Talk. The overarching theme of Mom Let’s talk is the understanding that mothers who are incarcerated need connections to their child’s life. For mothers who are in prison typically they lose contact with their children within six months of starting their sentence. Due to the trail of middle men it requires to request information from the outside, and the inconsistencies and inabilities that come from family visiting hours women are often left without any idea of what is happening in their child’s day to day life. My goal when creating Mom, Let’s Talk was to break down the barriers that divide a mother and her child when put in difficult circumstances like prison. The ultimate goal is that enough parents can use this portal and that a positive impact is seen within the prison inmates, as well as see if there is a decrease in the school-to-prison pipeline for children who have an incarcerated parent.
The Idea
The idea for capstone stemmed from my love for restorative justice. I found myself immediately drawn to the idea of changing the face of prisons. Now obviously, that is a heavy task to take on so I looked to a smaller scale. One thing I have always said about my passion for psychology is that I want to change the lives of someone, and I want it to change my life in the process. I grew up in a home with two happy, and healthy parents, and I forgot that is not a guarantee. I took the idea of creating a prison program, and combined it with my knowledge of the lack of resources for incarcerated mothers, and thus Mom Let’s Talk came into the works. Some of the biggest pitfalls come from being unaware of what is happening in the child’s academic setting. Mom Let’s Talk acts as a parent portal which provides the mother access to grades, teacher contacts, and scheduled academic events. This allows a bridge to be created from inside the facility, to outside in the world.
The goal was to create a website which can implement more useful resources for mothers who are incarcerated. The website provides certain requirements to help the mothers be more in tune with their children’s life. Consider this a parent portal, which allows mothers to regularly schedule meetings with the children, as well as planning meetings between the teachers of the children. My work is to provide the resources that keep a mother as a fixture within the child’s life despite complications in the environment. When looking, the disheartening statistics regarding incarcerated mothers inspired me to develop the resource guide located within a website for my capstone, to help these mothers stay in touch with their children through better resources than they currently have. The purpose of this project is to diminish the amount of incarcerated mothers who lose touch with their children, or lose the custody of their children while incarcerated. As you look around the website you will find contacts, schedules, performance, and results.
The Importance of a parent portal
In todays age of students and technology the main way a parent is regularly updated about student’s academic performance, and upcoming events is through a parent portal. Since the mothers who are incarcerated do not have access to the internet it leads them to being left out of the loop, and unaware of school updates. Mom Lets Talk can be uploaded to a server which is the most common way for these women to access information. The sever version of Mom Let’s Talk can be put onto mobile or desktop devices, and will be regularly updated for these women. This special circumstance parent portal allows for the mother to access academic records, as well as connect with their child’s teachers and coaches.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the portal creates a sense of normalcy for these women. It is important for people to remember that just because these women are incarcerated does not mean they should be left out of crucial decisions and moments within their child’s academic life. I hope that you all like the idea as much as I loved putting it into reality. I think programs such as the one I created can be very beneficial in the world of change and restorative justice. Thank you for taking the time to read this article and below I will attach the portal as well contact info. If you have any questions feel free to reach out!
Website: https://victoriacipriani.wixsite.com/capstonemomsportal
Contact Info:
Email: Toricip6299@gmail.com
