Most members of the Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network (ICAN) spent decades, including their formative years, behind bars. Members of the National Family Network (NFN) have experienced the extreme sentencing of youth in deeply personal and varied ways. This includes having a loved one incarcerated for an act committed in youth, or being directly impacted by youth-perpetrated harm—whether through surviving violence themselves or losing a loved one—and seeking a path toward healing and wholeness in the aftermath.
Many ICAN and NFN members have shared feelings of isolation in their experiences. Our community care work is designed to foster spaces of shared understanding, healing, and belonging—for all who have been impacted by the extreme sentencing of youth.
