Shall Not Want

Institute History

Description

Sherry Swanson has been locked up for five years. When she was 18 years old and strung out on dope, she robbed an old man. In a matter of days, Sherry will be free again. A model prisoner who has undergone personal transformation, she doesn't give much thought to the pitfalls that await her once she reenters society. Her dream for the future is to reunite with her young daughter Alexis. She loves her little girl and that's the only thing that counts.

Sherry's dreams of getting a job, settling down and being a normal mother are quickly extinguished by the reality of halfway houses, unemployment and parole restrictions—not to mention the fact that her brother Bobby announces that he and his wife want to keep custody of Alexis. Sherry struggles to build a case and appeal the adoption, but despite her determination, she discovers that new laws are in place which make it difficult for formerly incarcerated mothers to regain custody of their children.

Devastated and disillusioned, Sherry finds herself relapsing into her heroin addiction and violating the conditions of her parole, but she refuses to cave into a cruel destiny. She pulls herself together and decides to transfer the love she feels for her daughter to a new man she meets at an AA meeting. Flesh and Blood is the story of a woman who must forgo the love of her daughter for an even more precious, desperate cause—her own survival.

Credits

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