What's going to happen to the Ghraib-y baby..?
If his momma does time?
I was reading a MSNBC article earlier about how Lynndie England has pled guilty to seven on the nine charges bought against her. It's part of a plea agreement so that she'll (hopefully) do less time (I had hoped that it was because she had an attack of the guilts and was wanting to be held accountable for her actions - but that's a whole other blog).
The interviewer asked what would happen to her child whilst she's incarcerated, and the interviewee couldn't answer.
I sort of can. I can give you a rundown of that happens AF-style.
Every member of the USAF who has a child is required to have a 'Family Care Plan'. That means that we're suposed to have a 'Plan B' in case something happens to us whilst our SO is deployed. Basically, we have to have arranged in advance for both short and long term childcare. That involves naming our childcare providers in an offical form that goes in the active duty member's PIF (Personal Information File), executing powers of attorney for medical care (for the short term provider) and in loco parentis (for the long term).
This care plan is, as I said, designed with deployments in mind, but it can also be used for other situations where the military member is going to have to be separated from their family (or child if they're a single parent) for any length of time.
Such as being incarcerated.
Pvt England probably has a care plan very similar to the one I outlined here. Her son will in all likelihood go and live with her family whilst she's doing her time. I can't say for sure that that's what's going to happen because I haven't seen her FCP, but I can tell you that this is the course of action most often taken by AF personnel.
I feel for her. I used to be angry and disgusted at her, but I've come to have a little compassion for her and her circumstance. I can't imagine being separated from my children...I can't imagine being in jail and only being allowed minimal contact with them.
It must suck to be in her shoes...