The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Education Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Children of women incarcerated at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services (BDCS) were allowed to spend the day visiting with their mothers through the Grow Your Child Programme.

BDCS launched the initiative on August 31 as part of their rehabilitative efforts and participants were allowed to kickstart the new school year by reconnecting with loved ones.

Khandi Gibson, president of Families of all Murder Victims (FOAM), said that the programme allows children to spend the day with their mothers once a month to bond over activities. She added that children are not responsible for the crimes committed by their parents and are suffering the effects of missing a parent from the home.

She said: “One Saturday per month they get to watch movies with their children, they get to help with homework, they get to hug and kiss and touch their children, which I think is good for both of them.

“It’s so important because kids came into the world and they are not responsible to enforce a blow that their parents get. They’re not responsible that an unfortunate blow that they have been dealt and their homes are missing a mother figure or father figure due to the prison.

“We have to bear in mind these perpetrators, they will be returning back to society. How do they return to society and show their children love when they weren’t allowed to bond or visit or hug and hold them?”

She explained that children with incarcerated parents are often “broken” by the realisation that their parents are not able to be as active in their school lives as their peers are.

She said: “People don’t understand what this does to the children when the parents are incarcerated, they don’t understand how broken the children are.

“It harms them mentally when they realise that their mothers can’t take them shopping for back to school or a PTA, and is missing out on events because she is incarcerated.”

FOAM donated 37 backpacks filled with school supplies for the mothers to gift to their children for the new school year. Ms Gibson said the children enjoyed a fun-filled day bonding with their mothers and that it was important for them to receive something tangible from their parent to take with them on their educational journeys.

She said: “We thought it was really important for the children to receive something tangible for school from their mothers. We were able to donate 37 knapsacks with school supplies that the mothers can give to their children.

“They had the bouncing castle there, so they were able to play with the children in the bouncing castle, they had lunch cooked by the staff, they were able to play and color and watch movies it was so much fun to watch them.”