Motherhood Beyond Bars | Holistic Family Support Program
With a 525% increase in in the number of incarcerated women since 1980, there have been devastating effects on children and families—200,000 children separated due to parental incarceration in Georgia alone.
These children face increased risks—social, emotional, and behavioral disorders, cognitive delays, substance abuse, and academic challenges. Every child born to a woman in prison is born with the odds stacked against them.
Motherhood Beyond Bars exists to combat these odds and ensure a healthy start for infants born to incarcerated women by providing a network of comprehensive support for mothers and caregivers. They support and strengthen families with the goal of long-term, healthy reunification and a permanent end to cycles of incarceration in families.
The Holistic Family Support Program—a cornerstone program of the organization, supported by the Liz Blake Giving Fund—provides tangible and emotional support to the families enrolled. With the goal of ensuring that every infant in the program has a safe, supported start in life, and preventing unnecessary entry into the foster care system for infants who can remain with family members if given proper support, they take a two-generation approach to facilitating healthy, long-term care and ultimately, reunifications between mothers and their children after incarceration.
Nearly every infant born in the Georgia prison system since 2020 has been enrolled in the program—with 252 infants and over 740 family members currently enrolled.
Because of the generosity of partners like the Liz Blake Giving Fund, they have been able to:
Send hundreds of boxes of diapers to infants in the program, relieving a significant financial burden on families caring for infants.
Provide car seats, bassinets, formula, infant clothing and other infant care items through the “Begin Box”—equipping families in the care of their newest members.
Fund the cost of phone calls between incarcerated women and their loved ones.
Support successful reunification of mothers with the children after incarceration.
Keep over 95% of infants in the program out of the child welfare system.
Expand support into more jails across Fulton and Cobb County.
Motherhood Beyond Bars continues to advocate for greater awareness and support of the challenges facing incarcerated women in Georgia and beyond.