Testif-i: The Fight to Reunite

Testif-i: The Fight to Reunite

Limited Series

Directed By: Presented by A New Way of Life

Screening: October 4, 2021 3:16 pm

Running Time: 26 minutes

Testif-i | Storytelling for Change is a multimedia initiative from A New Way of Life that aims to transform the public dialogue on mass incarceration through storytelling and the lived experiences of formerly incarcerated women. Testif-i will broaden the conversation to include perspectives and insights through the unique lens of gender, race and justice. The 2021 Testif-i series focuses on the difficulties of repairing family connections after a long prison sentence, finding personal freedom, and building a future beyond incarceration. Our discussion will focus on a parents’ fight to reunite with their children after incarceration. Our participants include one formerly incarcerated mother, the child of a formerly incarcerated mother, and two family reunification lawyers. Each year, jails separate 2.3 million mothers away from their children (Prison Policy Initiative), a phenomenon disproportionately affecting Black and Brown women. Even a short stay in jail can result in the permanent loss of one’s children resulting in devastating harms to a child who needs their mother. According to the Marshall Project between 2006 and 2016, tens of thousands of children were placed into foster care solely because a parent was incarcerated. The parental rights of 5,000 of these children were eventually taken away entirely.