With a blue marker, Isabella Williams traces an outline of her mother’s hand onto a sheet of construction paper. Isabella moved in with her mother, Zalika Williams, at the end of November, as part of a trial discharge from the foster care system. “It’s been a journey,” said Ms. Williams, 29, of Isabella’s return. “It’s been so exciting.”After her birth in early 2016, Isabella was taken from Ms. Williams’s custody by hospital staff because of her mother’s substance abuse. Ms. Williams said she started drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana at 16.

Source: New York Times January 22, 2019 15:31 UTC