My name is Jaden. I'm 21 years old. During a lot of my early childhood, I didn't really know what was going on. I was very confused by a lot of things. When I was five, came went into my house and arrested my mother.
I didn't really understand it at that time, but I now understand that she had an addiction problem and she needed help. That's not what she got. Instead, I spent a lot more years confused and separated. There was just a lot of chaos all around. I was separated from my brother, who was not more than a baby. I was separated from everything that I had known for my entire life. Watching your mother get dragged away is the kind of image that sticks with you as a child.
Having a parent incarcerated, you're constantly changing your roles. Where you are and who you are - are always shifting. You're always searching for a why, a why this, why me, or why her?
I now understand that it was a greater problem. I'm incredibly grateful for my grandparents for stepping up and raising me for many years. But it still has an impact on the way I view this world, the justice system, authority figures. It impacts everything.
It's very hard to feel normal with that kind of a past. And it's even harder now that i recognize, so many people around me were in a similar boat. I naturally gravitated towards kids who had problems like me. And it wasn't hard to find them. Parents either actively using or incarcerated. It was just incredibly difficult to cope. The trauma of it will probably never leave me, and I just don't want others to have to feel the same way. The Family Preservation and Accountability Act offers a better way forward. These people can be helped. These children can be helped.