Family Connections Program

What We Do

• Bimonthly Family Workshops–At CMOM, where incarcerated parents reunite with their children in a nurturing, interactive setting.
• Learning Hubs at Rikers Island–Transforming visitation areas into child-friendly spaces designed for play-based connection.
• Ongoing Support & Research–Tracking program impact and refining approaches to ensure the best outcomes for families.

“When [my son] visits me at Rikers, he is shy. Here at the Museum, I really see his personality shine.” – Program Participant

Impact & Reach

For many parents, CMOM’s Family Connections workshops provide a rare opportunity during incarceration to play and bond in a warm, welcoming and engaging environment.

• 7+ years of programming in partnership with NYC’s Department of Correction.
• 18+ family workshops annually, serving over 90 incarcerated parents and their children.
• Expanding with 6 new learning hubs at Rikers Island to provide a more welcoming visitation experience.

A Transformative Experience

Each workshop creates a safe and joyful environment for families to connect. CMOM educators facilitate child-led activities, from art projects and storytelling to seasonal celebrations like trick-or-treating and holiday gift-making. These shared moments build lasting memories and strengthen family bonds in ways traditional visitations cannot.
The program also has a profound impact on hope and motivation for incarcerated parents:

• 76% report feeling “much closer” to their child after participating.
• 92% leave feeling “very hopeful and motivated” about their future.
• 84% say the program makes them feel very confident as a parent.

“This is the first time in months that things have felt normal for us as a family.” – Parent Participant

Bringing CMOM to Rikers

In addition to workshops, CMOM is creating permanent learning hubs within Rikers Island. These interactive spaces offer families a child-friendly alternative to traditional visitation areas, encouraging meaningful interaction through books, play materials, and creative activities.

A visiting mother shared that she now plans to bring her son more often to visit his father, knowing he has a comfortable and welcoming space to engage.

Why it Matters

The Family Connections Program humanizes the incarceration experience, allowing parents to reconnect with their children in ways that encourage positive behaviors, reduce recidivism, and promote successful reintegration into family life.

A NYC Department of Correction officer put it best:

“Over the years, I have seen the positive impact this program has—not just on families, but on officers and incarcerated parents, too. It reminds all of us that we are more than just numbers and uniforms.”

Media & Publications

In the Media:

• “Rikers Island jail gets kid-friendly visitor’s room for incarcerated women ahead of Mother’s Day” – Associated Press
• “Not Just Another Museum Visit: A New Program Lets Incarcerated Parents Experience CMOM with Their Children” – Early Learning Nation
• “Program allows inmates to see their kids outside prison” – CNN
• “Parents incarcerated at Rikers Island visit kids at Children’s Museum of Manhattan” – CBS News
• “Getting Past the Barriers: When a Mother Is in Prison” – The New York Times

Publications:

• Invisible Victims: How Children’s Museums Are Strengthening Families Through Partnerships With Correctional Facilities. – Curator: The Museum Journal 00(0): 1–19. Violet Hott, Adrienne Testa and Leslie Bushara. 2024

CMOM Shares at National Conferences

Conference: SXSW Edu, March 2025
Reimagining Everyday Places as Early Learning Hubs

Young children spend 80% of their time outside of school, but too many lack access to joyful experiences that encourage learning through hands-on activities and play. Though these opportunities exist in our highest-income neighborhoods, they are often inaccessible to families in under-resourced communities. Join us as we explore innovative programs that tackle this divide by transforming overlooked spaces — sidewalks, shelters and even jails — into nurturing learning environments accessible to all kids and discover why community involvement is crucial for fostering children’s early development.

Conference: Museums Association of New York (MANY), April 2025
Session: Museums & Prisons: An Unlikely Partnership

Together this panel represents a children’s museum, a science center, a historic house, and a museum at an active prison. Each of the museums gathered on this panel have a partnership with a prison. These partnerships each look different from one another and have different goals. However, what the museums have in common is that they are changing perceptions about people impacted by incarceration and improving access and inclusion in their organizations. Although for some members of the panel this type of partnership may seem like an unlikely one, it proves to be core to the mission of the organizations.

Conference: Aspen Ideas Festival, June 2024
Keeping Family Together During Incarceration

Rich Beury, CEO of Robin Hood Foundation joined a panel with Anne Penson, Executive Director of Women’s Initiatives at the NYC Department of Correction, and Jessica Seinfeld, Founder and President of GOOD+ Foundation, to discuss Robin Hood grantee Children’s Museum of Manhattan’s Family Connections program, which works with the Dept. of Corrections to create a unique space for incarcerated parents at Rikers Island and their children to bond. After participating in CMOM visits, incarcerated mothers showed a 68% reduction in behavioral incidents, and their children also exhibited fewer behavioral problems.

Conference: Association of Children’s Museum Conference, April 2023
Session: Keeping Families Intact: The Value Children’s Museums Share with Prisons

Prison visiting rooms and children’s museums share a value: keeping families intact. In this session, participants will hear from three museums about how they’ve partnered with prisons to serve families impacted by incarceration. Session attendees will learn about research that supports why museums should partner with local prisons and how your partnership could benefit at-risk children who have a parent who is incarcerated. A professional from Family Services at the Washington Department of Corrections will discuss strategies for approaching prisons to do this work and tips for a successful partnership.

Conference: SXSW Edu, March 2023
Strengthening Family Connections at Rikers Island

Robin Hood Fund for Early Learning, NYC’s Department of Correction, and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan discuss their effort to reunite children (0-5) with parents incarcerated at Rikers Island. The program, launched in 2018, established a national model for how a thoughtfully designed public-private partnership can heal family bonds ruptured when a parent is incarcerated.