MOMS BEHIND BARS GET EARLY MOTHER'S DAY WITH KIDS CHILDREN SEE KIN FOR FIRST TIME IN MONTHS IN CYA FACILITY.Byline: Andrea Cavanaugh Staff WriterCAMARILLO - Angela Rodriguez's eyes filled with tears Friday, the first time she saw her 10-month-old daughter Niah walk on her own. But these weren't Niah's first tentative steps. Rodriguez's baby walked for the first time two weeks earlier and hundreds of miles away as Rodriguez was locked up at the Ventura Youth Correctional Center in Camarillo. Two days before Mother's Day, Rodriguez saw Niah courtesy of ``Get on the Bus,'' a program that brought the children of about 20 female California Youth Authority wards to visit their mothers, some for the first time in years. For Rodriguez, 20, who gave birth to Niah while incarcerated incarcerated /in·car·cer·at·ed/ (in-kahr´ser-at?ed) imprisoned; constricted; subjected to incarceration. in·car·cer·at·ed adj. Confined or trapped, as a hernia. , seeing her daughter's stumbling stumbling an abnormal gait in which the animal does not fully extend the limb, the plantar surface is not properly placed with respect to the ground surface at the time of impact so that the limb is likely to collapse and the animal to fall. steps for the first time made her realize what she's been missing as her mother takes care of the baby in Salinas Salinas, city, United States Salinas (səlē`nəs), city (1990 pop. 108,777), seat of Monterey co., W Calif.; inc. 1874. It is the shipping and processing center of a fertile valley famous for its grain and lettuce. . She last saw Niah six weeks ago, before she was sent back to the CYA CYA Cover your ass. See Defensive medicine. for a parole violation. ``She's walking, she's talking more, she has more teeth,'' Rodriguez said. ``She grew up on me. I should be at home.'' CYA Chaplain CHAPLAIN. A clergyman appointed to say prayers and perform divine service. Each house of congress usually appoints it own chaplain. Catherine Conneally-Salazar modeled the program on a similar one that brings family members to visit inmates at a state prison in Chowchilla. The Camarillo lockup See hang and abend. , the only one in the state to house the system's 225 female wards, stopped being a co-ed facility in February when its 275 male wards were transferred to other institutions. Some of the visiting children came from hundreds of miles away, boarding buses at 4:30 a.m. Friday. Once inside the institution's new visiting hall, they were greeted with food, balloons, games and a clown clown, a comic character usually distinguished by garish makeup and costume whose antics are both humorously clumsy and acrobatic. The clown employs a broad, physical style of humor that is wordless or not as self-consciously verbal as the traditional fool or jester. - and the chance to visit with mom for about 3 1/2 hours. Many of the wards, like Rodriguez, gave birth to their children inside the CYA and saw them taken away a day later, Conneally-Salazar said. They had no time to develop the skills they will need to mother their children once they're released, she said. ``There's no bond, no connection,'' Conneally-Salazar said. ``She has no idea how to be a mother. Today she got to rock that child, feed that child.'' Local schools and a civic group raised the $3,500 needed to bring the families to Camarillo, and school children and businesses brought clothing, gift bags, teddy bears and food. Many of the wards were nervous as they waited for their children to arrive. Viaonca Schlingloft, 18, of Fresno said she was on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of tears as she waited for her 4-year-old daughter Marisof to arrive with Schlingloft's mother. Schlingloft, who hadn't seen Marisof since she was sent to the CYA 13 months ago on battery and burglary charges, didn't know if her little girl would recognize her. ``I didn't know how she would react,'' Schlingloft said. ``But she ran to me. She remembered me.'' Andrea Cavanaugh, (805) 583-7602 andrea.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Fernando Montes mon·tes n. Plural of mons. Jr., 4, left, looks at his mom Crystal Hernandez, right, who has been in CYA custody for 2 1/2 years. Dad Fernando Montes looks on at left. The family got together at a special early Mother's Day party for the moms on Friday in Camarillo. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer |
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