Sesame Street Highlights Children Coping with Incarcerated Parents

“Who are the people in your neighborhood?” and “Lady Bug Picnic” are songs that I know from only one place: “Sesame Street.” These are songs my children, 8 and 10, know as well – more than 30 years later.
Now in its 44th season, the international children’s television program, “Sesame Street,” is synonymous with childhood memories, long-term friendships, sweet dreams and excitement. The show and its creators have been great at delving into issues that help kids fit in, feel comfortable and understand and embrace differences – physical challenges, relationships and family structure.
Last week, Sesame Workshop unveiled yet another project to help our children understand life through our varied lenses: a 30-minute documentary on incarcerated parents highlighted on CBS’ “Sunday Morning.” Wow! The organization understood the lack of available resources for children of incarcerated parents and developed a film to help children cope with being separated from their parents and explain to viewers the importance of preserving family bonds – even behind bars. Mixing fiction with real life, the short film uses puppets and youth‘s personal stories.

“We were really struck by the lack of resources,” said a Sesame Workshop spokesperson on the need to create such a project.
The film will be distributed to therapists, schools, prisons and service providers. It will not air on the actual show.

In addition to the film, Sesame Workshop has created a webpage, and a Sesame Street Incarceration App that features a toolkit for parents, caregivers, providers and families. Resources, tips and kid-centered activities are highlighted to help talk and draw out emotions and feelings are provided.

Some tips on the website state:

• Phone calls are a great way to reach out. Help your child to think of something she'd like to tell her incarcerated parent, and give her a photo of her parent to hold during the call.
• Before you visit your incarcerated loved one, let your child know some of the things she can expect to happen. For instance, "We won't be able to sit in the same room with Mommy, but we can see her through a window and read a story together.

Because I’ve been working in the field of criminal justice reform for seven years now, my children were exposed at an early age to what mommy does and why. They’ve experienced lessons about the law and consequences firsthand through family members and a visit to a West Virginia prison. They learned about the court system and juries when I told them about sitting in on my very first Supreme Court hearing in 2007 (they also got a lesson from Spongebob Squarepants). They have even helped to explain disparities in drug policy to a wide audience in a YouTube video put out by the Crack the Disparity Coalition when they were ages 3 and 5. They have a very honest view of racial disparity (unfortunately) and know that they – and people that look like them – are being targeted.
Maybe now that this issue is being communicated through the language of children, children like mine can understand how the criminal justice system affects on families – and society as a whole. In fact, maybe its elementary terms and approach will evoke enough emotion that some grownups from communities least impacted by incarceration policies can better understand how this system impacts us all.

Zerline Hughes is Communications Director of the Justice Policy Institute. In this capacity, she interacts with media and helps execute JPI's communications strategy. She helped produce "Blocking the Exit," a short documentary on the parole process in Maryland for people serving life sentences. Prior to joining JPI, Zerline was the Communications Manager for The Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit focused on criminal justice reform by way of research and advocacy. While there, Zerline maintained and wrote for the website and participated in advocacy and communications campaigns that resulted in legislation reform and national media attention. She also helped produce a short documentary entitled “Crack the Disparity: It's Not Fair. It's Not Working.” which was screened throughout Washington, D.C. and on Capitol Hill. Zerline has also worked as a public relations consultant and newspaper reporter and freelance writer for publications including the Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Ventura (Calif.) County Star and Dance Magazine. Zerline earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and photography from Howard University and a Master of Science in Communication Management from Simmons College.