Darlene Cook is raising her two grandchildren and her partner's grandchild.OKLAHOMA CITY -
Oklahoma City
students head back to school next week, but instead of parents prepping kids to
go back to class, many grandparents are tasked with getting the school supplies together.
Darlene Cook,
known as ‘Grammy' in her household, is a mom to three. She's raising her two
grandchildren and her partner's grandchild and says the second time around
isn't easy.
"Being a parent
again at this point in my life is not what I expected," Cook said.
Her daughter, a
nurse was married had two beautiful girls but started abusing the medicine she
was supposed to be dispensing. An addiction to pain meds spiraled out of
control into methamphetamine abuse, then theft to score the meth.
After a check
writing scheme caught up with her, Grammy is left picking up the pieces.
"I think they kind
of left their old life behind and they are so used to being with us, occasionally
[they'll say] ‘It's…not fair. I want to be normal.'" she said.
Tiffany and Megan,
11 and 12 years old respectively, have adjusted, but they say their mother has
not.
"She gets really
emotional which sometimes I'd say, not annoying, but it can be really awkward,"
Tiffany Brewer-Cook said.
Ninety-five
percent of the women in prison are mothers. In May, Gov. Fallin signed a prison
reform bill into law aimed at reducing recidivism and reducing the state prison
population.
