Jail ready rooms usually are not heat locations. For younger youngsters particularly, visiting an incarcerated father or mother is commonly as traumatic as it’s therapeutic. It’s an expertise full of lengthy waits, intimidating safety measures and tight restrictions on the go to’s length.
Having had a member of the family incarcerated for over a decade, I’ve seen the toll that extended separation has on girls and their youngsters. I’ve made many lengthy drives to prisons and witnessed the restrictions that conventional visitation affords. I do know that at the same time as visiting means sustaining an emotional bond, it will possibly make you’re feeling remoted and emotionally confused.
That’s what makes this system featured in our movie above so uncommon. Right here, a reunification home in Goochland County permits girls and their youngsters to expertise a full day collectively in a hotter setting than conventional visitation. Starting in late 2022, the home has allowed a rotating cohort of ladies to spend time with their youngsters over a number of visitations.
On this considerably surreal setting, our quick movie “Weekend Visits” goals to witness the emotional spectrum of pleasure, pressure, confusion and love between two individuals who care about one another deeply however who’re studying what it means to be father or mother and youngster once more.