By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
According to the Department of Justice, “over 10,000 ex-prisoners are released from America’s state and federal prisons every week and arrive on the doorsteps of our nation’s communities.”
Though many expect that day to be a joyous occasion, returning to society can be filled with anxiety as one faces the daunting process of reintegrating into their roles in the family and society at large.
After experiencing the reentry process firsthand, Foster Sellers decided not to run from his past, but lean into it. Following his own reintegration into society after involvement with the legal system in 2016, Sellers began volunteering with Community Family Life Services, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that specializes in women’s reentry and supports individuals facing poverty and homelessness.
That experience sparked a passion for the work and eventually led him to the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens, where he now serves as project coordinator. The AFRO connected with Sellers to discuss his personal journey with reentry and family reunification, as well as the network’s efforts to help formerly incarcerated individuals rebuild their lives.
AFRO: What did your own reentry and family reunification process look like after being involved with the legal system?
Foster Sellers: The first hurdle was employment. When you’re inside you lose your employment and benefits, and that trickles down to transportation, health care, food, clothing and shelter. You have to have money to pay for rent, provide food yourself and clothes yourself. My situation became about survival. I tried to maintain some sense of normalcy given the fact that I did not have a support network or social system to assist me as I was navigating unknown territory.
I was in a homeless shelter, and I was going to Miriam’s Kitchen to get food services. They were also able to help me with clothing. Then, I got connected with Thrive DC, and they were able to provide me with some social services.
For me, my immediate family was in the area but that did not necessarily mean I had a place to live. They wanted to know how I was going to contribute, what my game plan was and see some things in place. It was a process.
My parents were not necessarily involved in my reentry. They took a very standoffish approach. It took me back to my time going through the system and the night of my arrest. My parents were far away— out of sight, out of mind. That begins to resonate with you because when people you think would come to your rescue start to distance themselves it gets dark. It’s the start of disunification as opposed to reunification.
One of things I had to confront was the lost time. The night I was arrested was an emotional time because I thought my parents would be the first to come in and try to do all they [could] to advocate for me or that we would be a united family. But, it wasn’t like that. It was a journey. I had to rebuild trust, and that is a slow walk. It’s not easy.
AFRO: Where would you say you are now in your journey of reconnecting with your family?
FS: I think I’m in a healthier phase. I’ve done the work to address the big six, or employment, shelter, food, clothing, transportation and health care. Doing that was the biggest way I could prove–to myself first but also my family–that I was ready to start coming around and interacting with them more. I secured a housing situation where I had a chance to reconnect with my siblings. That helped me to prove to them that I wouldn’t be inconsistent.
Ultimately, I’ve moved from barrier to breakthrough, and that took emotional intelligence. I had to decide whether I had the grit to get through something like this when my family was far away and when I felt so alone. If I didn’t figure things out on my own, I would have been in a position of relying on other people. I had to come to terms with that and not be angry and upset.
AFRO: What might families of returning citizens misunderstand about reentry?
F.S. I think there is a misconception that all returning citizens want to be taken care of and that they cannot take care of themselves. There needs to be more of an opportunity for returning citizens to show a different side of themselves that they don’t readily get a chance to show because of the situation they’re in.
They come out of a system that’s been telling them what to do, how to do it and when to do it, which makes reintegration challenging. Communities should be finding ways to allow returning citizens to take care of themselves and dismantle that myth.
AFRO: How does the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens support the family reunification process?
FS: One of the things we do is offer the Ready 4 Work Program. If a family member or loved one knows someone who will be returning soon, they can refer them to the program to help them find and prepare for employment.
We also do a lot of community outreach and relationship building. We work with organizations, like the READY Center, where families are always engaging and looking for programs to benefit returning citizens.
We also have monthly community focus groups, allowing the larger community to come in to learn about what we do. They can ask questions about how they can support a family member and what kind of support we can provide. It varies. The reunification process is unique to each family.
