NEWL Alum, Courtney Allen, Publishes Op-Ed in BDN

N.E.W. Leadership Alum, Courtney Allen published an Op-Ed in the Bangor Daily News November 19, entitled, “We must improve child protective services for incarcerated women.” She notes that there are a lack of offered services to successfully reunite imprisoned mothers with their children. Oftentimes, the children of incarcerated women end up in foster care and in the state of Maine, once a child has been in foster care for 15 out of the past 22 months legal parental rights are terminated.

Many incarcerated mothers are in jail for substance abuse issues. It is estimated that these women leave behind some 1,500 children with a preponderance of these ending up in the foster care system never to be reunited with their mothers. This creates generational trauma, leads to the next generation of substance abusers, and creates a vicious cycle.