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The Power Of Mothers: Releasing our children by Celia Lashlie

Complex issues underlie our youth crime statistics. Recent high profile cases of child abuse and violent crime have helped to highlight some of the shortcomings in the way we have traditionally handled situations where children are born into families trapped in a spiral of crime, poverty and abuse, and become trapped in the same downward spiral.

The Power Of Mothers is an insightful book by social justice advocate Celia Lashie. In it she takes a critical look at what isn’t working. She is particularly critical of the prison system and believes that children entering this system receive no benefit but are let down time and again. She asks whether prisons are about rehabilitation and reintegration or simply to make society feel better. She also takes a critical eye to the role of Child Youth and Family (CYF), asking whether the agency is actually helping at risk children as much as it can.

As you might expect, The Power Of Mothers also looks at the roles of mothers of at-risk children and questions what we as a society are doing to help them. She exposes the environment in which they live and identifies how and where the negative attitudes of those in agencies supposed to be providing help work against the efforts of the children’s mothers in raising their children in the best way they can.

In particular, Lashlie follows the high profile journeys of Maka Renata and B J Kurariki from the time they were taken into the care of CYF to their prison sentences and release. Through the book and their case study she builds a compelling argument for change.

Celia Lashlie was the first woman prison officer to work in a male prison in NZ. She became the Manager of Christchurch Women’s Prison in 1996 and since leaving Corrections in 1999 has continued to work in a number of areas linked to at risk children. She focuses on ways to stem the flow of young New Zealanders entering prison. She believes that children are born filled with their own unique brand of magic and it is the role of communities rather than central government to reverse the negative statistics of child abuse, prison numbers and social disconnection. The Power of Mothers is an interesting and thought provoking read.

RRP $36.99
Published and distributed by HarperCollins Publishers

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