Every year thousands of families across Washington are reunified after successfully navigating their way through the state's child welfare system. Here is one story of a mother who not only succeeded in getting her daughter back, but is also making a difference in the lives of parents in jail.

In 2009 Alise Hegle's world was falling apart. At age 25, she was addicted to methamphetamines. She found herself pregnant and unable to care for a child. When her daughter Rebekah was born, Child Protective Services intervened and placed her in foster care. Alise, who was looking at a seven year prison sentence, received the gift of a lifetime — the opportunity to go to treatment and forgo incarceration. This was the chance she needed to get her daughter back and to prevent her parental rights from being terminated. Without hesitation, she accepted.

"In treatment, I received clarity," she says. "Any doubt I had about getting clean went out the window when I looked at my daughter. There was no turning back."

After completing her treatment program at American Behavioral Health Systems, which took four months of in-patient work, she met all of her compliance criteria for reunification (parenting classes, secure housing, being on-time for visitation with her daughter) Alise was able to reunite with her daughter on May 29, 2009.

"I was afraid she wouldn't know me," said Alise. "Then she reached out her arms. She knew it was me."

Not long after Alise and Rebekah reunited, Alise heard about a movement that involved giving a voice to parents who have lost their children to the system. The Parent to Parent Program, a program of the King County Superior Court, pairs veteran parents (parents like Alise who been through the system), with parents who are entering the system. The goal is to help parents navigate the process of getting their children back, which can often be confusing, and to give parents a voice in the process.

"I had to learn how to do everything on my own," Alise states when referring to what she needed to accomplish before reuniting with her daughter. "I was broken, and had to advocate for myself. I wish there had been a voice giving me hope — telling me I could do this."

Alise is also actively involved in the Parent Advocacy Committee (PAC) in King County that is one of several statewide PACs that was developed by parents and stakeholders in the child welfare system (parents, caseworkers, court staff) in partnership with Children's Home Society of Washington's Catalyst for Kids Program. The PAC brings parents and stakeholders together to advocate with and on behalf of parents entering the system.

"I jumped into advocacy work with every piece of my being," says Alise. "It's about working with parents to get their children back, and embracing positivity."

Alise and her colleagues are piloting a program with incarcerated parents to bring veteran parents into the jails as a resource for parents who are serving time. Something as simple as making sure parents receive transportation to their hearings is an important step in the process of having a "fighting chance," as Alise states, at getting their children back. The program also involves working with the parents in the jails one-on-one to provide support and resources to create a plan-of-action.

Alise quotes her boss, Kimberly Mays, when she says, "Wouldn't it be great if jail becomes a place for an opportunity to change?"

Today, Alise is a full-time student at Seattle Central Community College pursuing a degree in social and human services. She also works as a paid volunteer with King County Superior Court's Parent to Parent Program, and is mom to Rebekah, who is now two. Alise will be one of the speakers at King County's Reunification Celebration on June 17th at the Pacific Science Center.

To learn more about Catalyst for Kids, click here.