Research/Document Library

Keeping Incarcerated Mothers and Their Daughters Together: Girl Scouts Beyond Bars

"Girl Scouts Beyond Bars" may sound like a tabloid headline. It is not meant, however, to convey the notion of a group of Girl Scouts absconding with the proceeds from their annual cookie sale. It designates an inmate mother-child visitation program that began as a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) demonstration project in November 1992.

This first-of-its-kind Girl Scout troop consists of more than 30 daughters whose mothers live at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW). The girls meet with their mothers at the corrections facility 2 Saturdays a month, and on alternate Saturdays they meet at a Baltimore church where they work closely with Girl Scout volunteers on projects just as girls in other troops would.

This Program Focus first discusses the social and judicial context for this unique program, then describes the first four programs in operation, and concludes with an examination of the broader issues that these programs should confront to effectively change the lives of youths at risk.

Available online

http://www.ncjrs.gov/

Author(s)

Marilyn C. Moses

Date

October 1995

Publisher

US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice