If you are a child of someone who is incarcerated and you have a question for me, you have three options:

1. Post a question in the comments section below,
2. Send an email to questions@livesinfocus.org,
3. Call (646) 867-1891 to leave a message.

I also welcome questions from others who might simply be interested in knowing more about how the life of children is affected when a parent is incarcerated.

Click on the player above or download this video here. (iPhone version)

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: How has your parent’s incarceration affected your interest in staying in school?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646) 867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

Lives in Focus is relaunching its monthly video column by 23-year-old Makeba Lavan, a young woman whose mother was incarcerated until late 2005.

If you are a child of someone who is incarcerated and you have a question for Makeba, you have three options:

1) Post a question in the comments section below,

2) Send an email to questions@livesinfocus.org,

3) Call (646) 867-1891 to leave a message.

Makeba also welcomes questions from others who might simply be interested in knowing more about how the life of children is affected when a parent is incarcerated.

Click on the player above or download this video here. (iPhone version)

Flash |QuickTime

Makeba describes how children form impressions of the incarcerated parent when he or she is missing from the child’s daily life.

In her previous column, Makeba discussed how she would raise children but why she is not quite ready for that responsibility herself. In her first column, she introduced her mother as the two prepared to spend their first mother’s day together.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: What are some impressions you have formed about your incarcerated parent? And when you visit, how true is that impression compared to the real person?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646) 867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

If you are a child of someone who is incarcerated and you have a question for Makeba, you have three options:

1) Post a question in the comments section below,

2) Send an email to questions@livesinfocus.org,

3) Call (646) 867-1891 to leave a message.

Makeba also welcomes questions from others who might simply be interested in knowing more about how the life of children is affected when a parent is incarcerated.

Flash |QuickTime

Makeba discusses how she would raise children but why she is not quite ready for that responsibility herself.

In last week’s column, she described being raised by her godparents while her mother was incarcerated. In her first column, she introduced her mother as the two prepared to spend their first mother’s day together.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: How has the experience of being the child of an incarcerated parent affected your feeling on having children of your own?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646) 867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

If you are a child of someone who is incarcerated and you have a question for Makeba, you have three options:

1) Post a question in the comments section below,

2) Send an email to questions@livesinfocus.org,

3) Call (646) 867-1891 to leave a message.

Makeba also welcomes questions from others who might simply be interested in knowing more about how the life of children is affected when a parent is incarcerated.

Flash |QuickTime

In this week’s column, Makeba Lavan describes her childhood being raised by her godparents. While she says she loved them dearly, she said they often upset her when she was growing up by speaking poorly in front of her about her incarcerated mother. Still, her godparents provided the kind of stability that most children of incarcerated parents severely lacked.

“I feel like I was very blessed to have them,” says Makeba. “A lot of kids, when their parents are incarcerated or are just not there for other issues such as drug issues, a lot of times they don’t have people to look after them.”

In this video column, Makeba also talks about the kind of sense of responsibility young men and woman should have before they consider becoming parents.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: Did someone other than family raise you while a parent was incarcerated? What was your experience in that situation?

[Use the comments feature below or call 646-867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

If you are a child of someone who is incarcerated and you have a question for Makeba, you have three options:

1) Post a question in the comments section below,

2) Send an email to questions@livesinfocus.org,

3) Call (646) 867-1891 to leave a message.

Makeba also welcomes questions from others who might simply be interested in knowing more about how the life of children is affected when a parent is incarcerated.

Lives in Focus is launching a new weekly video column by 23-year-old Makeba Lavan, a young woman whose mother was incarcerated until late 2005.

Makeba is a passionate public speaker and advocate for childrens’ rights. Using her personal experience as a child of an incarcerated parent and the experience of youth that she has come in contact with, she works to expose the current injustices of the legal system while also calling for reforming the U.S. penal system.

If you are a child of someone who is incarcerated and you have a question for Makeba, you have three options:

1) Post a question in the comments section below,

2) Send an email to questions@livesinfocus.org,

3) Call (646) 867-1891 to leave a message.

Makeba also welcomes questions from others who might simply be interested in knowing more about how the life of children is affected when a parent is incarcerated.

While Lives in Focus will produce Makeba’s columns and offer some editorial guidance, she is free to express her thoughts and sentiments unfettered by the bias of those of us who have not experienced what she has since childhood. But please keep in mind that Makeba’s views do not necessarily represent those of Lives in Focus. We have loaned a camera to Makeba bought using the generous funds raised earlier this year from our audience.

In her first column, Makeba introduces us to her mother as the two prepare to spend their first ever Mother’s Day together.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: What was your experience spending Mother’s Day with your mother after she was released?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646) 867-1891 to leave an audio message.]