Equal Justice Fellow Helps Formerly Incarcerated Mothers, Children Unite
The Center’s Equal Justice Works Fellow, Katherine Ojeda Stewart, has joined the Center to help formerly incarcerated mothers reestablish relationships with their children in safe and meaningful ways.
The Equal Justice Works Fellowship is designed to match public interest minded new lawyers with legal aid programs like the Harriett Buhai Center. The project aims to fill unmet legal and education needs faced by mothers upon their release from prison or jail–a major problem in Los Angeles. The region has 25,000 children with incarcerated parents, the highest rate in the nation, but few organized efforts to help them break the cycle of recidivism and generational incarceration.
Katie’s two-year project, The Family Reunification Re-Entry Project, assists and empowers the mothers by helping them with custody, visitation and domestic violence issues in order to maintain bonds with their children and free themselves from their abusers. She is a recent graduate of the UCLA School of Law.
For more information about the project, contact info@hbcfl.org
