When Ms Samsiah Samsudin was first arrested, the youngest of her four children was just eight months old. Now 49 and working as a driver transporting passengers for a logistics company, she recalled her foremost concern then: "I was very worried. I knew my husband could not look after the children." She said her now ex-husband had been abusive throughout their marriage, and although she had asked her parents for help, her relationship with her siblings and family "wasn't strong". In the end, her children remained largely in the care of her ex-husband, with some support from her family. At first, he took them to visit her, but stopped about three years into her five-year sentence for a drug-related offence.Even though a social service agency helped to coordinate visits with her family, her once-close relationship with her children fractured.Reconnecting with her third son upon her release in 2019 was particularly hard. He was just 11 when she entered prison and nearly 17 when she was released."He was already a teenager, so he tended to rebel. When I tried to talk to him, he kept saying I lied to him, I left him – so it's quite painful," Ms Samsiah said, her voice choking with emotion. "If I made a little mistake, he would say things like, 'This is what you get for leaving me'."