KIDS OF PRISON MOMS GET HELP WOMEN OFFER HOPE WITH RAGDOLL RESTORATION FOUNDATION.

Byline: CAROL ROCK Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Two Santa Clarita women are working hard to make sure that some children don't follow in their parents' footsteps.

Terri Cadiente and Tiffany Michaels started their teamwork long before they organized the Ragdoll Restoration Foundation a year ago. Their partnership goes back 18 years -- to Tiffany's birth to Cadiente's sister, who was imprisoned on drug charges. The aunt raised the child as her own for the next nine years, until the mother was released.

Michaels and her aunt have learned much from one another -- lessons that they are now sharing with girls whose lives mirror Tiffany's.

``When I go to talk with girls, I tell them your past is no indication of your future,'' said Cadiente, an outgoing blonde who brings street credibility to her audience.

She admits to a past of drug use, something she left behind when she brought her infant niece home. Her life turnaround included a new career in stunt work. Now she is known for her motorcycle-racing skills and physical prowess.

Both she and her niece exude an energy that others can feel in a room -- strength with a definite soft side. The younger woman, now a college freshman studying communications, is eager to show the world that adversity doesn't always have tragic consequences.

At age 9, Michaels was reunited with her mother. Life was good for a while. They made up for lost time, getting to know each other. The mother married a man who also supported the daughter. In her early teens, the girl thought her mother had turned a corner.

The bliss proved short-lived. On Tiffany's 16th birthday, her mother moved out.

`` I couldn't understand why this was happening, but I knew I couldn't fix it,'' Michaels recalled.

Now, the daughter gets sporadic e-mails in which her mother shows little emotion.

``They're almost bullet points. They're not heartfelt,'' she said, but has learned it's not her fault.

`` I still love her. Just because I have a strong outer appearance doesn't mean I don't feel it inside. It hurts emotionally, but I'm strong.''

The Ragdoll Restoration Foundation -- named because children with incarcerated parents often seem ``broken'' -- has become Cadiente's mission in life.

``When I go into the prison facilities and talk to the women, I tell them that they're in serving their choices, but I'm there to teach their children choices that serve them,'' the aunt said.

She said she knew other girls were going through the same thing as Tiffany was with her mother. She said she wanted to help them. ''

Ragdoll Restoration has reached out to county probation camps as well as to the statewide drug treatment center Walden House. More than 180 girls were recently referred from Project Angel Tree, a prison ministry program. Cadiente has had to learn quickly about grants and tax status and creating a volunteer base for a cause she's learning is bigger than either she or Tiffany anticipated.

One of the foundation's projects is called Raising the Bar, which gives girls the tools to free themselves from self-imposed emotional prisons in which inmateds' children frequently live.

The foundation targets girls 8 to 17 years old -- ages when they are highly vulnerable and apt to make bad choices. Outreach efforts target the positive, helping the girls to build self-esteem while acknowledging bad family situations.

The Ragdoll Restoration Foundation hopes to open a facility in Santa Clarita where girls could take classes and feel free to talk with others who know what it likes to be in their situation.

The group will have its first fundraiser at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 3 at the Paseo Club in Valencia.

The next day, Raising the Bar will go into action, involving more than 100 girls in life-affirming workshops at the Paseo Club. The daylong event will start with Breakfast With Tiffany and will include demonstrations by Cadiente's fellow stuntwomen, self-defense training, life coaching and workshops on personal grooming, exercise, nutrition and money management.

HOW TO HELP

Sponsors are still being sought for the fundraiser. General admission tickets for the concert only are $50; VIP tickets (includes food) are $100. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., concert is at 7:30 p.m. For information or tickets, call [phone] or visit their Web site at www.ragdollrestorationfoundation.org.

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(color) Terri Cadiente, foreground, and her niece Tiffany Michaels have founded the Ragdoll Restoration Foundation to help girls who have parents in jail. Their partnership started 18 years ago when Michaels was born to Cadiente's sister, Linda, who was in prison on drug charges, and Cadiente brought the baby home to rear until the mother's release.

David Crane/Staff Photographer

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HOW TO HELP (see text)