For some kids, imagination a chilling reality

Today on CNN.com/living, the world of art and the reality of heartbreak caught the attention of C. J. Ellis of KidsReadUs.com. “Our focus has been to encourage children to use their creative talents and imagination to help them have fun while learning. But for some children, using their imagination can leave a chilling memory.”


In “Heartbreaking art helps kids with inmate parents," Dana Rosenblatt of CNN explores a macabre world where children create drawings many of us would like to forget:

. . . stick figures writhing in pain and confusion, a knife dripping with blood and a broken heart. Next to the heart, the child artist has written: "My heart is bleeding, my heart is a broken bleeding heart." Another child has drawn a red bubble, inside of which is written: “I want 2 die."

The powerful drawings communicate their experiences with pain, hopelessness and confusion as clearly as a thousand spoken words.

With those words, Rosenblatt describes the plight of a population of at-risk children that most people don’t even think about — the children of those in prison.

The statistics on prison parents are staggering. According to U.S. Justice Department estimates, 2.3% of children under 18 years old in the United States have at least one parent in prison. More chilling facts:

• 52% of state inmates have minor children
• 63% of federal inmates have minor children

But one former Texas parole officer, Marilyn Gambrell, was determined to help overcome the fears and despair shared by these young minds by forming No More Victims, Inc. , a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping the children of parents in prison. For some in-depth coverage of her program, CNN produced a 10-minute eye-opening video http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/07/27/bia.children.of.inmates/index.html?ref=werecommend#cnnSTCVideo.

Without a doubt, what kids draw is a reflection of their thoughts, feelings, and day-to-day life, says Ellis. Mary Ellen Hluska, a child life specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center agrees:

It helps them have a safe place to express what they’ve been through
without using words. It’s there, and they don’t have to say it.

For one 15-year-old teenager in Gambrell’s Houston, Texas, community center, drawing gave her the courage to overcome a troubled life, press charges against a man who had abused her, and become a role model for other children in the No More Victims center, all while her own mother was in prison.

Today — 5 years from when she confronted her fears — this young lady is attending college and working two jobs — with lots of imagination to go around!

It's an awe-inspiring reminder, Ellis says, that much can be done while helping kids channel their imagination and letting them grow into productive, creative adults who know how to pass the message along.

Cloning Marilyn Gambrell would be a start!