It is the right of children to be protected and loved, and society's institutions must nurture this right. This can be done by providing the social supports families need to fulfill their responsibilities to their children. Specifically, this means identifying and supporting those policies and programs that achieve a better life for all children, but especially those at risk. The criminal justice system must recognize that the individual offender in its care is a family member, and it is important that this role be reinforced and be given opportunity for expression even while in prison. Society's institutions have tended to view the incarcerated mother as a negative role model for her children to the extent that any relationship between them should be discouraged and replaced by foster family care or institutional life. While arrangements for the care of the child of an incarcerated mother while she is in prison are important, this should not preclude efforts to sustain and even improve the parent-child relationship during this time. Attempts to sever the parent-child relationship because the parent has been convicted of a crime severely denies the right of both parent and child to receive mutual benefit from this natural relationship. Thirty-two references are listed.