USD Volunteers Help Reunite Children and Incarcerated Mothers
Volunteers from the University of San Diego will help make a ‘mother’s day’ special for some area children and their incarcerated mothers. Delayed this year because of the H1N1 virus alert in May, the annual Get on the Bus program is made possible through the Center for Restorative Justice Works and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The trip was originally set to take place on Mother’s Day.
More than 30 children will depart from USD this Friday en route to the California Institution for Women in Corona. The program, started 10 years ago, also reunites children and fathers who are behind bars. This week, buses filled with more than 700 children and their caregivers will travel from major cities across California to one of three female institutions: California Institution for Women in Corona, Central California Women’s Facility and Valley State Prison for Women, both in Chowchilla.
“Our program is unique because it reunites families that otherwise would not be able to be together due to cost and distance,†program Director Maria Palmer said.  “Get on the Bus plants the seeds for the child/mother relationship, which is crucial for both parties when the women come out of prison.â€
The university’s Center for Community Service-Learning was instrumental in organizing the local leg of the trip. Student volunteers are studying to be marriage and family therapists. They will assist the children on the bus ride, and during and after their visit.
“It is direct experience,†says Rachael Souter, a Community Service-Learning graduate assistant who worked on the program. “This is therapy 101. The volunteers will be able to help the children as they prepare to see their parents again, because many of them haven’t seen their parents very often. They will support the children with their experiences throughout the day, and hopefully facilitate conversation with the parents as well.â€
According to organizers, approximately 200,000 children in California have an incarcerated parent and live with relatives or in foster care. Some 75 percent of female inmates are mothers.
“Children want to see and hug their mothers, whether they are in prison or not,†said Get on the Bus Executive Director and Founder Sister Suzanne Jabro. “These children pay the high price of separation from their mothers, and this is a monumental effort by the community and state to strengthen those family bonds.â€
Get On The Bus provides free transportation for children and their caregivers, travel bags for the children, comfort care bags for the caregivers, a photograph of each child with his or her mother and meals for the day. On the bus trip home following the visit with the mothers, each child receives a teddy bear with a letter from his or her mother as well as post-event counseling. The program is funded by donations from churches, schools, family foundations, grants and other organizations.
— Denise T. Ward
For more information, go to www.getonthebus.us.
