St. Peter Claver Prison Ministry

Hour Children

• Serving the unique and often overlooked needs of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and their children for over 30 years, Hour Children is a leading New York City provider of supportive services to families impacted by the criminal justice system. Hour Children was named to acknowledge the important hours that shape the life of a child with an incarcerated mother – the hour of a mother’s arrest, the hour of their visit, and the hour of her release. Our mission is to help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and their children successfully rejoin the community, reunify with their families, and build healthy, independent, and secure lives. To accomplish this, Hour Children provides compassionate and comprehensive services and encourages all to live and interact with dignity and respect. During the years of a mother’s incarceration, Hour Children’s prison-based programs at Bedford Hills and Taconic Correctional Facilities make it possible for families to maintain regular, meaningful contact, endure the period of painful separation imposed by prison, and build community with others in similar situations. Our programs include: free, round trip transportation for children and family members from across New York State and beyond; prison visitation programs offered year-round at no cost; parenting education; family activities (card-making and book/tape sharing); advocacy services; mental health support; a pre-teen/teen program; and management of New York State’s only prison-based nursery (at Bedford Hills CF) for children born to incarcerated mothers. Hour Children’s comprehensive post-release program model works to ensure that families have access to all needed resources in order to facilitate successful stabilization, reunification and reintegration into the wider community. Over the course of our 33 year history, through dialogue with our families, we have identified a number of key needs and developed community-based programs in response to them. These include: transitional and permanent supportive housing; mental health services; workforce re-entry preparation; a community food pantry; and an array of child-centered programs that provide care, enrichment, education and socialization in developmentally-appropriate settings. All of Hour Children’s programs on behalf of women and children are grounded in two core beliefs: change takes time; and love makes the difference. Recognizing that the processes of re-entry and reunification are highly personalized and that individual needs vary greatly, we offer families “the gift of time”. We impose no restrictions on the number of days, weeks or months a woman and her children can remain with us, and give them as much time as they need to do the hard work of rebuilding life together. As long as a woman is moving forward in the re-entry/reunification process, she and her children have a home at Hour Children. Committed to the belief that that we are more successful when we are together than alone, Hour Children gives women and children an experience of community that is warm, supportive and embracing. It is within this community that past wounds are healed, and many learn for the first time positive communication, shared responsibility, healthy relationships and sincere forgiveness.
• 36-11 12th Street