Protective custody

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood nun has made it her mission to look after the needs of incarcerated mothers and their children. She has founded an organization called Hour Children, which dedicates itself to providing for the growing number of abandoned children and give them a supportive living environment.
The name makes perfect sense to Sr. Fitzgerald, whose roots are in Kerry and Donegal.
“For the kids we work with, the hours of their lives are governed by the hour their mom is arrested, the hour they can visit and the hour their mom comes out of prison,” she said.
According to Fitzgerald, the problem of broken families has worsened in the last 10 years. Indeed, according to government figures, between 1993 and 2000 the average population of women in prison rose by 115 percent. More than half of women in prison have a child under the age of 16, and a third have a child under 2.
Not surprisingly, the organization has grown quickly as well. It has several properties, the bulk of which are in Long Island City. There exists there a community with accommodation for abandoned children, housing for mothers and their children to reunite, and housing for ex-convicts to go. This is a place where families can start to build again and where former prisoners can find a renewed sense of purpose. The community also boasts two thrift shops where basic supplies can be bought upon leaving prison and where Fitzgerald can provide gainful employment for those who need it.
Fitzgerald is a petite woman who dresses in civvies. She looks more like a businesswoman than a traditional nun. She is fizzing with energy and has a quick sense of humor. Those who work with her (the organization has 12 paid staffers) seek her advice constantly.
In 1985, Fitzgerald was working as a school principal. She had never been inside a prison and had no dealings with prisoners or their problems. One of the sisters in her community was working in a prison and saw the devastating effect the separation had on families. She asked the community to help.
It piqued Fitzgerald’s interest straight away. “I was fascinated by the fact that nothing was done for these kids, and I love kids,” she said. The sisters held meetings to discuss what could be done. Clearly, there was a lot of administration involved. Many of the women in prison had lost track of their children. They themselves cannot accept phone calls and are allowed only to place calls, which, in many case, many of their families cannot afford to accept.
It became apparent that children were being lost in the system. Some were with foster parents, others with grandparents. The sisters decided to do something to help.
Fitzgerald and three other sisters moved into St. Rita’s Convent on 12th Street in LIC. They took in eight children and set about raising them until their mothers were released from prison.
They became like family, and although many are now grown and have long since left the house, Fitzgerald says that the connection is never broken. “You never let them go,” she said. “They may leave, but we are always connected.” There is an annual Christmas Party where this unusual extended family comes together to celebrate. There are usually 350 guests.

Day-to-day demands
She has a huge responsibility but seems to handle everything in an effortless manner. One day last week one of the Hour Children trucks was in an accident. Fitzgerald first made sure everyone was uninjured, then organized alternative transportation. Two minutes later, a young man on arrived at the headquarters. He had come to complete his community service. Fitzgerald greeted him like one of the team. “Often, when they have finished their service, the young men return to do some voluntary work,” she said.
Soon after, two women come in to her office to chat. They were completing internships in the Hour Children office and live in one of the houses. The internship will give them something to put on their resume. Both of them gave birth to their children in prison.
Twenty-five-year-old Keyshe Wilks has a 1-year-old son, Savyon. Pamela Epps, 26, has a 16-month-old daughter, Janet. Both women served time for non-violent drug offenses. They are grateful to Fitzgerald for her work.
“You know that you have different expectations when you get out of prison, so you focus on getting out,” Wilkes said. “You can make prison as hard as you want it to be. Having an opportunity to be with your kids makes it easier.”
Fitzgerald talks about all the children the way any proud mother would. “We have had some high school graduations and one of the children graduated from Mount St. Vincent’s last year, which was a big event for all of us,” she said. “We have been blessed with the kids we have raised.”
The fledgling group started its mission by visiting the nearby prisons. It was an experience Fitzgerald will never forget.
“That first visit changed my life,” she said. “I realized how blessed I had been. These women had not had the same opportunities or chances or support system that I had.”
The four nuns asked the women what kind of help they needed. “A woman would tell us, ‘I don’t know where my kids are,’ ” Fitzgerald said. “I was amazed at the lack of connection and vehicles for the women to meet their kids.”
They did what they could to help. “We made calls to find out where the kids were — we rang grandparents and social workers,” the nun said.

Ticking clock
This sort of investigative work is vital because a legal clock starts ticking once a woman goes into prison. The Adoption and Safe families Act 1997 states that once a child has been in foster care for more than 15 months, all parental rights can be terminated. The child can then be put up for adoption. This is meant to protect the best interests of the child but leaves the incarcerated women in heartbreaking positions.
Fitzgerald says these strict requirements can be met if there is someone to advocate for the women.
“It needs to be shown that the woman has a bond with her child, that she is working hard on staying in touch,” she said. “For a prisoner, that can be impossible to achieve. In other words, you need a voice. Unless someone takes up their case, they are voiceless.”
Hour Children realized that many of the women needed somewhere to stay after prison, somewhere they could reunite with their children. Although many of the women had homes to return to themselves, some of the situations were not in the best interests of the children.
The idea was to have a house where mothers could go and learn to live normally again, looking after their children.
“We found an unused building on 12th Street and got permission to use it,” Fitzgerald said. “Our volunteers came in to clean it. We gave women access to services, a roof over their heads and safe child care.” There is room for eight families there.
Fitzgerald has since opened a number of other houses to cater to these women and she herself lives in one of them in Richmond Hill. This house was opened to solve a recurring problem. By 1990, a prison nursery system had started. Women who went into prison pregnant were allowed to keep their children with them for one year. To be eligible to go back into the community on work relief, they have to show that they have a place to go and live where they can look after their child.
Fitzgerald was moved by one woman’s story. She explained: “I met Doreen, who had been a foster child herself and therefore had no family to go to when she left prison. Her only option was to put her child in foster care. She told me this, sobbing her eyes out. I approached the prison administration and asked if she could come to stay with me. I told them that I would support her and the baby. They said OK.”
The house in Richmond Hill is considered a starting point for the women. Fitzgerald believes it is a good idea to have a set of goals to aim for. “If they go on parole and do well, they can move to another house we have in Astoria, which is beautiful,” she said. “Once there, the women are expected to be more independent and pro-active as regards getting work and looking after their child.”
No one has ever been refused help and there is a high turnover as women develop their independence and go back to their original homes. Each woman has her own room with a key. The children stay with their mothers. There are some regulations, like the weekday curfew of 9:30 p.m., but they are designed to help the women stick to a routine.
The women are rewarded with a key to the front door when they get their first job. Fitzgerald places a lot of importance on the women taking responsibility. “We have child care from 7 in the morning until 9 at night,” she said. “The women pay $10 a day for the childcare but don’t pay any rent.”
Fitzgerald has no worries about living with ex-convicts. “The girls are so honest with their stories, they would put the rest of us to shame,” she said. Her aim is to send them back out in the world with the basic skills to get on in life.
“They learn independence, life skills, how to cook, clean, get up in the morning, make their way to work, normal things like that,” she said.
Fitzgerald’s dream is to eventually supply them all with affordable housing.
Hour Children runs a myriad of other programs like parenting, coping with domestic abuse, teaching for the children. They also have a program for children whose parents are in prison. They bring the children to visit the prison and talk to them about their reactions. Sr. Fitzgerald thinks it works well.
“The children love it because there is no stigma,” she said. “They are all in the same boat.”