“Mothers Behind Bars: The Parent Puzzle,” a benefit event, Sunday, October 27 from 3-5 PM at Hillsides, 940 Avenue 64 in Pasadena will raise funds to support the non- profit organization, “Talk About Parenting with Shirlee Smith”’s “Parent Puzzle” classes at California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino, Ca.
In 2010, California State Senator Carol Liu suggested to Smith that her organization take their parenting classes to incarcerated moms. Smith worked with her friend and former inmate Gloria Barrios to redesign the classes the non-profit organization had been offering to the general public for over fifteen years, adapting them to fit the needs of mothers behind bars.
“Talk About Parenting” classes are in their third year at CIW and are completely filled. In fact, there are over 100 mothers on the wait list.
The event is honoring Marguerite D. Downing, Judge, Los Angeles Superior Court Dependency Division, with the Humanitarian Award. Smith, founder and CEO of the non-profit organization, says the selection of Downing as the honoree, while based in part on the judge’s impressive contributions and achievements, really came down to learning that in her very powerful position of ruling on a parent’s ability to manage his or her children, she remembers well from where she’s come, and she has the ability to have and display a high level of respect for those families who come into her courtroom.
Downing, founder of the Incarcerated Parents Working Group says, “I am able to separate what these parents have done from who they are.”
from “Talk About Parenting”
“Mothers Behind Bars: The Parent Puzzle,” a benefit event, Sunday, October 27 from 3-5 PM at Hillsides, 940 Avenue 64 in Pasadena will raise funds to support the non- profit organization, “Talk About Parenting with Shirlee Smith”’s “Parent Puzzle” classes at California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino, Ca.
In 2010, California State Senator Carol Liu suggested to Smith that her organization take their parenting classes to incarcerated moms. Smith worked with her friend and former inmate Gloria Barrios to redesign the classes the non-profit organization had been offering to the general public for over fifteen years, adapting them to fit the needs of mothers behind bars.
“Talk About Parenting” classes are in their third year at CIW and are completely filled. In fact, there are over 100 mothers on the wait list.
The event is honoring Marguerite D. Downing, Judge, Los Angeles Superior Court Dependency Division, with the Humanitarian Award. Smith, founder and CEO of the non-profit organization, says the selection of Downing as the honoree, while based in part on the judge’s impressive contributions and achievements, really came down to learning that in her very powerful position of ruling on a parent’s ability to manage his or her children, she remembers well from where she’s come, and she has the ability to have and display a high level of respect for those families who come into her courtroom.
Downing, founder of the Incarcerated Parents Working Group says, “I am able to separate what these parents have done from who they are.”