CLAIM

Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) is a not-for-profit agency founded in 1985 to help women prisoners and their children maintain contact. 

Mission

Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers provides legal and educational services to maintain the bonds between imprisoned mothers and their children.  CLAIM advocates for policies and programs that benefit families of imprisoned mothers and reduce incarceration of women and girls.

Vision

CLAIM's vision for the future is one in which the cycle of intergenerational incarceration has been broken and women's incarceration is minimal to the extent it exists at all. CLAIM envisions a day when social policy is humane, just, and women shape the policies that affect them and their families. In such a world: 

• mothers are supported to care for their children;
• families' needs are met through caring comunity networks that include human services, education, treatment, physical and mental health care, and violence prevention;
• non-violent crime is dealt with through community-based sentencing that addresses the root problems that led to the crimes, as well as any harm to the victims; and
• resources are allocated more fairly

Values

CLAIM's core value is social justice reached through change, respect and responsibility. 

• We believe change is possible and we acknowledge the inherent relationship between individual, social and global change.
• In our work we acknowledge and respect the basic value of individuals and their contributions to family and society as a whole, in particular women, people of color and the economically disadvantaged.
• We promote responsibility. The first step in this process in demonstrating  our personal responsibility to further CLAIM's mission.

These values guide our work as an organization, our service to our clients and our work as public advocates.