Reentry Parents

For Reentry Parents

Coming home after incarceration is hard enough on its own. Coming home and trying to reconnect with your child — while managing probation or parole, finding housing, finding work, and navigating a family court system that may not have seen you in years — is a different level of hard.

M.O.M. does not treat incarceration as a permanent disqualifier. We treat it as a barrier — one that can be addressed, documented, and moved past.

What Reentry Parents Face

  • Child support arrears: Support obligations that continued to accrue during incarceration, creating an immediate debt that can trigger enforcement before you've had a chance to find work
  • License suspension: Many reentry parents come home to a suspended license — making employment and transportation to visitation nearly impossible
  • Housing instability: Difficulty securing housing with a record, which affects eligibility for overnight visitation
  • Employment barriers: Background checks, gaps in work history, and limited references make stable employment harder to obtain quickly
  • Probation and parole conditions: Supervision requirements that can conflict with court-ordered visitation schedules or travel restrictions
  • Relationship rebuilding: Children who have grown up without you — and who may have complicated feelings about your return
  • Legal complexity: Court orders that were entered while you were incarcerated, without your participation, that now govern your parenting rights

What M.O.M. Can Do

  • Provide transportation to court dates, visitation exchanges, and employment appointments
  • Help you understand court orders that were entered during your incarceration
  • Connect you with supervised visitation services for initial reintroduction with your child
  • Coordinate with OCSE on modification requests based on changed circumstances (with your written authorization)
  • Assign a peer mentor who has navigated reentry and family court simultaneously
  • Help you build a Legal Binder and document your compliance and progress
  • Connect you with workforce development, housing referrals, and financial literacy support
  • Build an Individualized Case Plan that sequences your barriers in the right order

What M.O.M. Cannot Do

  • Provide legal representation or appear in court on your behalf
  • Guarantee custody or visitation outcomes
  • Override probation, parole, or court conditions
  • Provide emergency housing or reentry shelter (we can refer you)

The First Step Is the Hardest

Most reentry parents who lose contact with their children don't lose it because they stopped caring. They lose it because the barriers stacked up faster than they could address them — and no one helped them figure out the right order. M.O.M. helps you find the first domino and knock it over.

Ready to Start?

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Mending Our Mistakes, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. EIN: 39-4100221. Learn more at mendingourmistakes.org.