An unwanted pregnancy is bad enough, but being pregnant and locked up can make things seem even worse.
After all, pregnant inmates have it rough, no matter what they’re in for. Some jails house them in separate units. At the Bexar County Jail. women who are incarcerated during pregnancy are kept in general population, but wear bright yellow uniforms to distinguish them from the inmates in orange who are not pregnant. They either see jail health clinic staff onsite, or they get transported to the county hospital for prenatal care. Some facilities may offer pregnant inmates nutritional supplements, but being pregnant and locked up is definitely not a cushy experience.
How Adoption Works when Moms are Pregnant and Locked Up
Inmates at any correctional facility in Texas have the option of contacting a state-licensed adoption agency like Abrazo to make adoption plans, if they wish. Abrazo accepts collect calls from any inmates interested in placing a baby or child for adoption, and coordinates with jail staff to meet with the inmate to discuss their alternatives and options, as well as the emotional and legal impact of adoption decisions. Inmates who work with Abrazo can review profiles of available adoptive families, talk with them via phone or video visit, and choose the family with whom they wish to match. Like any other mom planning to place, they can get to know the adopting parents before placement, and have the opportunity to keep in touch afterwards, too.
However, in most facilities, expecting mothers in lockup are not given advance notice of when they will deliver, for security reasons. They are not permitted to have anyone other than the medical staff and a deputy in delivery with them, or even visiting afterwards. Visits with their newborn are supervised and time-restricted. Agency staff are only allowed to meet with a hospitalized inmate for the signing of legal documents with the deputy present. Inmates returning to jail must make arrangements for an adoptive family or a relative or friend to receive the newborn upon discharge from the hospital. Agencies like Abrazo that truly care about birthmothers continue to offer the incarcerated mother with updates on the baby she placed, with post-adoption counseling services, and with ongoing access to the adoptive family as voluntarily agreed upon by all.
Options for Inmates Not Wanting to Place
Mothers in jail or in prison do not have to surrender their babies for adoption, of course. Even if they are not in a position to parent, nobody “has” to make a voluntary adoption plan. Being pregnant in prison does not make adoption mandatory (unless Child Protective Services gets a judge to say to, of course.) Some Texas prisons offer mothers of very young children the option of participating in a special program called BAMBI, that allows babies to stay with their incarcerated mothers for the first twelve months. Some foster care programs offer short or long-term foster options for parents who are locked up and whose minor children need care. (Click here to read an informative article about mothers behind bars and the toll it takes on not just children and parents but society as a whole.)
Incarcerated parents-to-be can be especially vulnerable to predators inside and outside the correctional facility. This danger came to light very recently, when a Texas attorney named Jody Hall was arrested for allegedly negotiating the sale and purchase of unborn babies with inmates in north Texas. She wasn’t the first Texas lawyer to get caught; the late attorney Leslie Thacker lost her law license after numerous legal infractions, which reportedly included buying babies from Texas inmates in the late 80s and early 90s. In one case, Thacker got ten years probation but the inmate got 60 years added to her 25 year sentence, for arranging with the attorney to sell her children. (Crime just doesn’t pay– especially not for those who are already locked up and feeling desperate because a baby is on the way.)
Help You Can Trust, In or Out of Jail or Prison
Abrazo has been serving the needs of parents all across Texas, in or out of jail or prison, for thirty years now. We’ve seen some of the best and worst of correctional facilities, but the good news is that laws have been changing to better protect pregnant inmates. Thirty years ago, we still were seeing women shackled to their hospital beds, forbidden from even seeing their newborns and released from handcuffs only long enough to sign their names on their relinquishment paperwork. (Witnessing those surrenders truly shook us to the core.)
There has been some improvement, thanks in large part to a federal law just passed in 2021, called the Pregnant Women in Custody Act. It addressed problems and better defined the legal rights of pregnant women in custody all across America. And we’ve seen some improvements closer to home, too. Last year, one seasoned deputy watching over an incarcerated mama making a loving decision for her newborn was so moved, that deputy agreed to snap some photos of that inmate with her baby on her own cell phone, and then printed them for her cell walls later. (Was she allowed to do that? We didn’t ask, but we were deeply touched by her kindness and her sense of humanity, and so was that very new birthmother.)
As Abrazo always tells every client, you are so much more than the sum of the parts of your life that took you to the places you never thought you’d ever be. Adoption can bring about amazing changes, but it’s not necessarily the “best” choice for everyone, whether or not there are metal bars involved. We’re dedicated to giving those who are pregnant and locked up all the respect we afford any other parent we serve– and continuing to do so, no matter what she may ultimately decide about adoption.
