In my opinion, the nursery program in Washington State may not be such a bad idea. Obviously, the mother cannot be serving a lot of time but it provides the services needed in order for the mother and baby to bond rather than shipping the baby off to foster care in the first ten minutes. The mother has to take care of the baby 24/7 and is actually, held accountable for someone other than herself. Some of these young women may not have grown up in the best of homes so teaching them family services and classes on child development can help them learn something they were never taught. It will help the emotional issues with the mother and the developmental issues with the infant because they will not be separated. In order for the mother to be healthy and the baby to be healthy, they should be housed seperately from other inmates, some other inmates may try to fight with them or become jealous if they are allowed in a program that allows them to keep their child (Allen, Latessa, Ponder, 2016). Sometimes family is not willing to care for the child of an inmate therefore, it ends up in foster care. I feel a nursery program is a great idea for pregnant inmates and the babies.
