Results

Today, Hour Children is a community of five residences, housing 45 families, with children from infancy to 21 years. More than 700 housing alumnae who have successfully transitioned to independent living return for special events and attend monthly support groups.

Through our work both in the prison and in the community, Hour Children has assisted over 7,000 families with reunification and re-entry services.

History

Hour Children is a not-for-profit, non-sectarian organization that assists incarcerated women and continues to provide the crucial post-release services that prevent recidivism after their release. Their holistic approach, providing services both inside and on the outside, is unique to Hour Children.

Established in 1995 with a mission to support families involved in the criminal justice system, Sister Tesa and four other Sisters of St. Joseph opened the doors of St. Rita’s convent to children of incarcerated mothers.

As Hour Children grew and became a strong presence in NY State prisons, they received the Family Services Contract from NY State Dept, of Corrections and expanded their services to manage the Nursery at the Taconic Correctional Facility, to provide numerous programs for general population and to manage the Visiting Room to enhance mother/child(ren) visits. Our education and advocacy have expanded to Beacon Correctional Facility and to the Rose M. Singer Center on Riker’s Island.

Understanding that women coming out of prison need a place to live so they can re-connect to their child(ren), Hour Children leased a second convent for the purpose of providing space for mothers to reside and to reunite with children. Today, Hour Children has five residences in Queens that provide immediate available housing for over 50 families. Three of these residences are now used as transitional housing for mothers and babies coming out of NY State prison nurseries or for women reuniting with children who have been living either in foster care or with family members. One residence is the ONLY official NY State work release site for a woman to come to live with her infant. Two other residences provide affordable, permanent, supportive housing to 12 families.

Each month more and more women are released from correctional institutions and more children are uprooted to rejoin their mothers. These families must cope with family reunification and the simultaneous search for housing and employment with very few supports. Hour Children is continually challenged to meet the demands for its services resulting from the increasing numbers of women in prison. In the past decade, the female prison population escalated by a third. It is reported that 76% of women in prison have one or more children and the majority will return as primary caregivers.