just in time for Mother's Day, governor signs bill enabling incarcerated parents a chance to keep their kids

Alise Hegle gave birth to her daughter while facing a seven-year sentence for her meth addiction. Her daughter was born two months early and tested positive for a small amount of meth (".001," Hegle clarified). Her daughter was placed in foster care. One month later, Hegle was arrested and sent to jail.

"I'd been in and out of jail throughout my pregnancy," Hegle told Truthout. But, with her daughter in foster care, Hegle now had to contend with trying to attend custody hearings from behind bars. "I sent in seventy kites [requests] to try to get transported to court hearings," she recounted. She repeatedly asked the guards about attorneys and social workers. Lacking money for phone calls, she was unable to call to search for resources.

Hegle's difficulties navigating the child welfare system from behind bars are not uncommon.

One week after losing his trial, Shayne Rochester lost his son to the child welfare system. Despite having a service plan that included visitation with his son, he was sent to a Washington state prison for men across the state. "I only saw my son once in that first thirteen months," he recounted. He spent his entire prison sentence trying to access services he would need to maintain contact and plan for reunification. "I didn't get the services I needed till I was six months to the gate," he told Truthout. He won his appeal and was released from prison only six days before his parental rights would have been terminated under the Adoption and Safe Families Act.

Read the whole story here:

http://truth-out.org/news/item/16312-...