The training session will be conducted by Professor Philip Genty, Columbia University School of Law and Ellen Rosenberg, Esq., family law consultant, VOLS Incarcerated Mothers Law Project. Advance registration for the training session is necessary. CLE credit is available.

The VOLS Incarcerated Mothers Law Project recruits and trains pro bono lawyers to counsel incarcerated mothers on Rikers Island, the city's main jail, and at two state prisons: Bayview Correctional Facility, located in Manhattan at 550 West 20th Street, and Taconic Correctional Facility located in Bedford Hills in Westchester County. On Rikers Island, the mothers of young children are sentenced misdemeanants, serving a year or less for a non-violent offense, or awaiting trial as detainees. Taconic and Bayview are medium security state prisons for women.

The training will introduce volunteer lawyers to the child welfare system and laws of custody in New York, and cover issues of visiting for children in foster care and living with other caregivers. The impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act on incarcerated parents will be discussed. Discussion will focus on the child welfare and criminal justice systems, and how they intersect.

Over 5,000 children have a mother incarcerated in a New York State prison. Mothers have a strong desire to continue their relationships with their children while incarcerated, but face major obstacles. There are serious legal consequences, particularly when a child is in foster care, when these relationships are not maintained --- the most drastic being termination of parental rights. Incarcerated mothers need forceful legal advocates to work on their behalf.

Pro bono lawyers in the project provide one-on-one legal counseling to mothers on child custody, visiting issues and child welfare issues; and participate in conducting legal information sessions at the prisons, for groups of mothers, on their rights and responsibilities as to their children while incarcerated.

Lawyers participating in the project need not have prior family law experience, since the project provides training and mentoring by an experienced family law attorney. Lawyers with family law experience are welcome!

To register for the training session and participate in the Incarcerated Mothers Law Project, or if you would like additional information, contact Sara Effron at Volunteers of Legal Service, seffron@volsprobono.org. In your email, please include your contact information and briefly describe your legal background and your interest in this project.