BILLINGS - The Department of Justice says young moms are the fastest growing prison population. On average, 12 babies are born to inmates at the Montana women's prison every year.

Julie Gauthier with the Family Tree helps coordinate the facility's parenting program which includes outreach to pregnant inmates. "It's the hardest thing they've been through coupled with the fact they're going to have to separate. They can't have family there so we try to bridge that gap when they are in labor. But it's not the same as their family." Gina Montgomery gave birth to her son Jimmy while she was incarcerated with Julie at her side. "I still remember that pain every day."

For these moms, the separation process is agonizing. But it's also painful for family advocates like Julie Gauthier who tries to be there throughout the whole process. That's because currently there is no protocol for checking up on those newborns once their moms are back behind bars.

Julie says, "That's the reality right now. And that's tough to swallow because we're advocates for kids. Again I want to stress they make the best possible choice that they have and sometimes they don't even have a healthy choice and we need to step up to ensure the safety of all babies born here. We work so hard to gain the trust of women here I don't want it to sound like they can't make choices, they can, but sometimes they don't have the options."

In the meantime, the Family Tree is literally branching out to offer support to newborns whose mothers cannot be there for them. Gauthier and others in the community are considering approaching the next Legislative session with a plan to provide background checks, home studies and more support for caregivers of newborns whose moms are behind bars.

Coming up Tuesday, we'll take a closer look at the prison's parenting program.