Parenting a challenge after time spent in jail

Hernet has been free since Dec. 13 after being arrested on a charge of aggravated driving under the influence. She is living at Hope Haven in DeKalb, and using the skills she has learned at DeKalb County’s jail parenting class and the county’s drug court program for better structure.

“I don’t get mad like I used to,” Hernet said. “I count to three, so [Coreon] knows mom’s not playing.”

Officials say that structure is necessary to parent an increasing population of children with incarcerated mothers. A report from the U.S. Department of Justice shows the female inmate population at jails nationwide increased 10.9 percent from mid-2010 to 2013, growing by an average of about 1 percent a year from 2005 to 2013.

Studies have shown that living without their mother can be detrimental to a children’s health and can even lead them to jail as they grow older. Children from newborns to 5-year-olds whose mothers are in jail are more susceptible to toxic stress and trauma. It can significantly change their brain chemistry and create mental health and behavioral problems, said Ann Adalist-Estrin, director of the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated at Rutgers University-Camden.

Adalist-Estrin said the best ways to reduce this toxic stress in young children are for the incarcerated mothers to have a responsible caregiver, tell children the truth about their jail stay, and to keep in touch while they’re in jail.

Coreon was with his father when Hernet was in jail and never saw her, restricting their communication to over the phone. Hernet and Coreon’s father share joint custody of their son.

When Hernet got out of jail after about 2½ months, Coreon was shy at first. Since then, he’s become very attached. He follows Hernet everywhere, she said.

http://www.saukvalley.com/2014/06/02/parenting-a-challenge-after-time-spent-in-jail/a5j26iu/