{"id":50622,"date":"2025-11-24T18:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/50622\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:33:09","slug":"parents-incarcerated-on-rikers-reunite-with-their-children-at-the-brooklyn-childrens-museum-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/50622\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents incarcerated on Rikers reunite with their children at the Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once a month, when the Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum<\/a> is closed to the public, it welcomes a special group of visitors: parents incarcerated at Rikers Island and their children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Haven: Reunification program, hosted in partnership with the city\u2019s Department of Correction, gives kids and parents a comfortable, welcoming place to play, bond and learn during long periods of separation. It was designed to blunt the impact of incarceration on children and combat recidivism after parents are released.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Atiba T. Edwards, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum, said the program aims to give families a sense of autonomy during their visits.
\n\"parentsThe visits are designed to give parents and kids a sense of autonomy, said Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum president Atiba T. Edwards. Photo courtesy of Winston Williams\/Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they\u2019re on Rikers, they don\u2019t have choice, they don\u2019t have a lot of agency,\u201d he said. \u201cThe same way we create a museum that is rooted in agency for children, what would it look like if we provide a sense of that for the parents who are incarcerated?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the request of the DOC, the program is hosted in a self-contained exhibit area. But, within that space, parents and kids are given free choice to explore the exhibit, play, do art projects and workshops, or just sit together to read and talk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we, as adults, don\u2019t really think about play as a common factor in our existence, but it shows up in everything we do, it shows up in the music, it shows up in the places we go,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cHaving these families spend two to three hours at the museum, playing together, it takes us back to the core essence of who you are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For both children and parents, the most joyful experiences are made of small moments, Edwards said.
\n\"parentSmall, joyful parents boost parents and kids. Photo courtesy of Winston Williams\/Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen some of the best moments happen is like, watching your child go down the slide, and they\u2019re like \u2018Come on, daddy, come after me,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then the adult goes down the slide after, and this moment of glee and joy is so, so beautiful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To capture those moments without putting families under the microscope, the museum snaps instant photos for each family to take home after their session. The activities, too, create tangible connections between the incarcerated parent and their child.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery month, we try to make sure there\u2019s an art project they can make alongside, so the entire family has the opportunity to make a thing, and then the child takes that home,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n

At a recent session, they created and painted terra-cotta pots and planted them with hardy, long-lived spider plants.\u00a0
\n\"parentsParents and children can explore the museum\u2019s exhibits together during their monthly visits. Photo courtesy of Winston Williams\/Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a high likelihood that a year from now, that spider plant is thriving, and that family can always say, \u2018Oh, I made this with my mom and my dad,\u2019\u201d Edwards explained. \u201cWhenever the parent returns home, they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, yeah, I remember we made this together at the Children\u2019s Museum.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Each session also offers snacks from local Brooklyn businesses. There\u2019s an element of choice there, too, Edwards said \u2014 incarcerated people can\u2019t always choose what they eat, but at the museum, there\u2019s a selection of cookies, juice and chips.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BCM\u2019s core audience is children ages 5-8. But so far, across four sessions \u2014 two with moms and two with dads \u2014 the age range has varied. In some instances, 20-year-olds have accompanied their younger siblings on a visit to see their parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After each session, organizers interview the participating parents in a group setting and individually to assess the real, qualitative impacts of the program.<\/p>\n

\"rikersThe program is designed to prevent recidivism and blunt the impact of incarceration on children. Photo courtesy of REUTERS\/Mark Kelly<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the common themes is like, \u2018Look, spending the time reminded me of how much I love to be with my family, and how much I\u2019m missing that, so I want to make sure I\u2019m getting out of here as quickly as possible and staying out of here,\u2019\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n

One parent said they were \u201cdone with the prison life,\u201d and just wanted to get out to spend time with their daughter.\n<\/p>\n

They try to interview the children, too, but those conversations are more difficult.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hard goodbye,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s often a tearful goodbye \u2026 so we generally just ask them, \u2018How are you feeling?\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The responses are very similar, he said. Children are happy to have spent time with their parents, and happy to have a project they made together, even after they\u2019ve been forced to separate again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DOC chooses which parents will participate, Edwards said. There are more men incarcerated on Rikers than women, and many of the moms have been able to attend both mothers\u2019 sessions so far, while fathers might be able to attend less often.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know all the inner workings, how they earn the privilege, but for some of the families who have done it once, I\u2019m sure they really want to try to do it as often as possible,\u201d Edwards said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DOC first pitched expanding their reunification program<\/a> in 2019, Edwards said. The COVID pandemic derailed their plans, and by the time it was safe to start the program up, DOC had lost its funding.<\/p>\n

\"parentsBCM hopes to expand the program as time goes on and host more frequent sessions. Photo courtesy of Winston Williams\/Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Edwards reached out to Gregg Bishop, executive director at Clara Wu Tsai\u2019s Social Justice Fund<\/a>. The fund agreed to give the museum a two-year, $160,000 grant. As time goes on, they hope to run the program more often \u2014 up to two or three times a month. Each participating family gets a free membership, and incarcerated parents are entitled to one when they get out of jail, too.<\/p>\n

Haven: Reunification further embraces BCM\u2019s mission<\/a> of serving the community both inside the building and out, Edwards said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just really warms my heart. It\u2019s almost tearful \u2014 in a happy tear way \u2014 when we get the green light, and the families walk over to where the parent who\u2019s incarcerated is, and then there\u2019s this great, joyful embrace,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just another way for us to extend our building so everyone can see themselves in our space, one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once a month, when the Brooklyn Children\u2019s Museum is closed to the public, it welcomes a special group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28308,98,9346,100,99,21470,28309,67,6105,28310,28311,3130,560,28312,9,24,12,370,63,9460,28313,5471,8098,1587,28314,10739,1083],"class_list":{"0":"post-50622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-atiba-t-edwards","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-childrens-museum","11":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","12":"tag-brooklyn-news","13":"tag-department-of-corrections","14":"tag-doc","15":"tag-education","16":"tag-families","17":"tag-haven-reunification","18":"tag-incarceration","19":"tag-jail","20":"tag-kids","21":"tag-kids-and-education","22":"tag-new-york","23":"tag-new-york-city","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-newsletter","26":"tag-nyc","27":"tag-parents","28":"tag-parents-and-children","29":"tag-play","30":"tag-prison","31":"tag-program","32":"tag-recidivism","33":"tag-rikers","34":"tag-rikers-island"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}