Child Reunification: Easier said than Done

Child Reunification: Easier said than Done

After 20 years of running in and out of jail, I had reached my destination.  Prison.

That was when my journey began, but it was filled with unexpected emotions, rejection, and years of battling with my inner-self. I could barely breathe when my daughter told me she didn’t need me in her life; when my son declared I wasn’t his mother; and when my baby girl said, “If you put your hands on me, I am going to call the police on you Lisa.”

Family reunification wasn’t a mere word for me. After 14 years of sobriety it remains a process that never ends. I spent 8 months behind bars for good-time while serving a 16-month sentence. While there, all I could think about was my children and how badly I wanted to see them. Ironically, the only thing that got me through it was convincing myself that my desperation didn’t matter because while I ran the streets until my feet would bleed they weren’t my concern.

So why now?

It was painful, but my reality. So I proceeded to get acquainted with my environment.

As it was when I was free, so it was while incarcerated. I received hate mail from every side. I had burned all my bridges. But if I was to survive, I knew I needed to focus on how to make that happen.

So I found my strength in prayer and the support of women serving life sentences in prison. Once released and connected to my children I took lash after lash from every one of them. It nearly crippled me, but helped me realize that my fight wasn’t for them. It was my battle to wage and win.

The big question: how was I going to do it? I found my answer because life was truly in session one-day-at-a-time.

So I found my strength in prayer and the support of women serving life sentences in prison. Once released and connected to my children I took lash after lash from every one of them. It nearly crippled me, but helped me realize that my fight wasn’t for them. It was my battle to wage and win.