Professor helps ‘Sesame Street’ reach children of imprisoned parents

Psychologist Julie Poehlmann worked as an advisor for "Sesame Street" on developing materials that will help children who have a parent who is incarcerated. Poehlmann got to meet Muppets Rosita (left) and Abby Cadabby. Photo: Gil Vaknin © 2013 Sesame Workshop It doesn't get talked about much, yet nearly 2.7 million children are growing up with a parent who is in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. What do you tell those kids? What don't you tell them? "Half of families say nothing," says psychologist Julie Poehlmann , a professor in the School of Human Ecology. "Another third say the parent is in the hospital or something like that. They don't know how to talk about it." Poehlmann doesn't have all the answers, but for the past two years, she's worked as an advisor for "Sesame Street" on developing materials that will help these children and the people who are taking care of them. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind "Sesame Street," is today unveiling "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration," an initiative aimed at families with young children who have an incarcerated parent.