Trinity Church: Children of Inmates Program

The Children of Inmates Program began in 2005 with a broken hearted child and a church who responded to the cry. “We had a little girl who disappeared. Her 10-year-old brother found her at the bus stop. She had been sitting at the bus stop all day. He said, ‘what are you doing?’ She’s 4-years-old. She said, ‘I'm going up to see mom.’ Now if a 4-year-old has that on her mind - that broke us down and we felt we had to do something about it. We started to realize they were just a hidden group of people who were really suffering.” So, Trinity Church of Miami, Fla., and partners from the community joined together to help the children of inmates. “Children have a hard time understanding if the parent is not there. They start to create their own reality in their mind about what's going on.” So the church transports the children of inmates for a visit every three months. “The biggest blessing that we've seen happen is that children who may not have seen their mom for years, getting back together with their mother and finding that she truly cares for them. And, then it clicking in their mind, ‘hey, if somebody would do this for me, then it's not hard for me to understand that God actually loves me.’” Chantelle Williams Georges knows what those visits mean to an inmate. “It meant the world to me, touched my heart,” Chantelle said. “It touched the hearts of many others that surrounded me to know that there is a program out there that actually helped us to keep in contact with our kids.” “I was very happy to see my mom,” said Chantelle’s child. Now that Chantelle is out of prison, she says the Children of Inmates Program is helping her be a better mom. “I'm more focused,” she said. “I spend more time with my kids. And right now, the best thing for me to do is try to focus on my kids.” For your help to the families of inmates in Miami, Florida, The 700 Club salutes Trinity Church of Miami - America’s Church of the Week!