If the child is already in a happy and stable environment with their grandparents, they shouldn’t be uprooted to go and live in jail with their mother. They cant gain the proper socialisation and other skills if they are in jail and the impact on the childs wellbeing and development needs to be paramount.

I agree that tge baby should be with mum, but not in prison. If this mum was thinking of what was best for her baby, she wouldn’t even be trying to get him, she would be happy to leave him with his sibling and grandparents.

i know of cases where the baby has only been allowed to stay in prison while she is breastfeeding, then is released into the custody of family or relatives if possible.
In one case it was reported in the paper when the Dad gave up his job to take custody of his daughter who needed special needs care.

I wonder if there was domestic violence involved, the article says the mother has been charged with manslaughter, not murder. Without knowing the why of it I think it’s difficult to gauge whether or not the child should be with her. We don’t know their relationship!

This is such a difficult and complicated issue and I do not know enough about the impacts either way to be able to comment one way or the other. But it has encouraged me to research this further.

This little one has been apart from his mum for over 12 months, his older sibling is with him at the grandparents, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to place him in prison with his mum. I’m not sure a prison is a healthy environment for kids. Too much could go wrong

No I don’t agree that he should be allowed to live in jail with his mum. When she killed someone she lost her right to freedom and living with her child.

Jail is no place for a little child. The mother should have thought about this little boy before doing the wrong thing and ending up in jail.

Hard one ! I do think the bonding with mum is very important (not bonding can have a huge impact on the child’s ability to attach, having a massive impact on identity and future relationships), but I also understand that jail isn’t a ideal environment for this child.

A jail is a rough place not suitable for any toddlers

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  • • kjgarner replied
    • 01 Jun 2018 , 10:02 pm

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  I agree, she should have thought about that before killing someone.

The rights of the child need to come before that of the mother. The child is already getting to see the mother and staying with family – if they’re in a happy and healthy environment that should be the priority.

What’s in the child’s best interest has to come first. If she’s going to be imprisoned for years it can’t be in the child’s best interest to remain with her until they go to school. The alternative options available and the seriousness of the offense needs to be considered. Obviously it’s a lot more comfortable for the Mother with the child in prison with them so there needs to be an objective assessment not involving the Mothers opinion on what’s best for the child.

There are good arguments each way, but I’d probably feel that in most cases, the child should be ith mum.

Could they consider short term stay units for mothers with their children? Surely her toddler could stay with her for a night or two every couple of weeks or once a month or so?

Not sure. I don’t think I’d like my child to live behind bars, unless a very special accommodation would be offered to mother and child.