Helping kids find their voices through photography

“I wish my mother would write to me saying, ‘I love you, Joslin. I miss you.When you come see me again, I’m going to give you the largest kiss in the world.’ I wish she would write, ‘I miss you’ as many times as you can fit into a letter because we are not a happy family right now.”

Joslin was just 9 years old when she wrote that letter to her incarcerated mother.

On any given day, more than 1.5 million children in the U.S. have a parent serving a sentence in a state or federal prison, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

To help a portion of those kids, Lansing’s NorthWest Initiative runs the Children with Incarcerated Parents or Relatives Program, with help from a grant from the Capital Region Community Foundation.

Jeana-Dee Allen is the driving force behind the program — and the person who recognized that traditional journal-writing and letter-writing wasn’t the most comfortable therapy for these kids.

“All the writing felt like more homework” Allen said. “If you tell them they’re coming to a letter-writing program, that sounds boring to them.”

Instead, Allen arms them with cameras and sends them out to document their lives and tell their stories in a visual way.

The program blends art, therapy, communication skills, mentoring, reading and, yes, writing.

The kids are encouraged to send a letter along with a photo or photocopied piece of artwork to their incarcerated relative — although that process isn’t as easy as it sounds.

“Mailing is expensive and a big hassle,” Allen said, detailing the many rules that must be followed for incoming prison mail. “But the kids are so excited when they get a letter in return.”

The relatives also are encouraged to communicate visually with their children.

“Some of these young kids can’t read, so a picture becomes so important to them.”

Allen shares examples of some of the correspondence from the adults, featuring drawings of teddy bears, bunnies, balloons and more.

“I want to tell you thank you for helping my children stay in touch with me,” one parent wrote to Allen. “I think this class is wonderful for the children who are missing very important people in their everyday lives.”

“I was a kid of these programs,” said Allen, a former photojournalist who grew up in Flint. “Any art-related community program was all the art we got growing up. I have really specific memories of being handed a camera and running into the woods and thinking this was the coolest thing ever.

“Those programs changed my life.”