Alice and I sat speechless. “There’s nothing we can do?” I asked finally.

“I’m afraid there isn’t much. She won’t be able to take custody until she’s been deemed rehabilitated, and that will take time. We’re also not positive that she’ll make parole, but the chances for it are relatively good.” She sighed. “I’m so sorry that this is happening. We can of course petition the courts based on emotional attachment claims, but as she’s so young I don’t see a judge basing custody on that alone. But please understand that it will probably take a year or more before her mother is granted custody, if it does happen.”

“But she wants it to, and that’s the big thing,” Alice said in a kind of scared whisper. I reached out and took her hand in mine as Helena gave us a sad little nod.

The next few days were somber for us. We tried to stay cheerful for the kids’ sake, but it was really hard. Kallie had no idea what was going on, of course, but I wondered if she suspected something from the way both Alice and I would hug her more often.

Helena was trying to console Al by telling her that everything would be all right, but she really had no idea that it would be. Shane tried to cheer me up, but it didn’t exactly work.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” she said finally. “It’s sad, but the woman is still Kallie’s mother. She deserves to see her child and be with her if she wants to.”

“But she’s a criminal!” I exploded. “It doesn’t make any sense that they’d let this happen. She’s in jail! She committed a crime and was found guilty of it, I don’t see how they can let a child be raised by someone like that.”

Shane sighed and shook her head. “She was arrested on drug charges, Dana. She was addicted. I’m not excusing her behavior, but just because she was so addicted to something that she broke the law doesn’t mean that she has no love for her daughter.”

“But she took the drugs while she was pregnant,” I said, trying hard not to cry.