Children with Incarcerated Parents: Many Stones Still Unturned
"We sat in a prison in Cumberland, Maryland recording
a story being read by an inmate for his child. The day had been a long
one, and we had already recorded stories with more than a dozen others,
so we weren't paying a lot of attention. But we became aware that the
man sitting across from us was having difficulty. Soon he was unable to
read because of the tears flowing down his cheeks and the sobs coming
from his throat.
We turned off the tape, and asked if he wanted to collect himself.
He nodded his head through his tears. He was Hispanic, and said in
broken English that he had never before read a book to his children. The
book, titled The Tree of Hope, seemed perfect for the moment. We
too were moved to tears and we wept together."
—From Hope House, Stories of Hope
In 2006, I began consulting work with the Annie E. Casey Foundation
to assist them in gaining a better understanding of the nature and scope
of the effects of parental incarceration on children and families. I
analyzed the current state of the field and the gaps that needed to be
filled. The knowledge we gathered during our work revealed tireless
advocates, researchers, grantmakers, and practitioners who have been
committed to understanding and improving outcomes for children and
families with incarcerated parents and building this field for over
twenty years. We also discovered a wave of growing concern about these
children and families, marked by increased activities of researchers,
journalists, and advocates that address the life experiences of these
children. For me, it was the first time in my career that I shared my
story about my father's incarcerations and drug addiction, which
ultimately ended his life.
Part of my work with the Foundation culminated in a 2008 report,
Children and Families with Incarcerated Parents: Exploring
Development in the Field and Opportunities for Growth. This report
summarized areas of opportunities for growth in the field based on
feedback from leading researchers, practitioners, advocates,
policymakers and funders. The major recommendations included:
1. Develop a Data, Research and Evaluation Agenda:
- Create a central place to locate data on this issue and develop a
user-friendly, compatible data source linked to a useful case management
system(s).
- Encourage State Departments of Correction to collect data on
children with incarcerated parents.
- Use data and research to inform and address the disproportionate
impacts of race on incarcerated parents and their children.
2. Test, Promote and Sustain High Quality Practice and Service Delivery:
- Address the child, parent, and caregiver relationship systems, not
just the child, when responding to the needs of children whose parents
are incarcerated.
- Support a national repository, clearinghouse or database of
promising and effective practices, programs and service-delivery
strategies.
- Provide an opportunity for practitioners and agency providers to
engage in standards for best practices, professional development,
peer-learning and technical assistance that would enhance high-quality
practices nationwide.
- Address the culture, policies and practices within corrections that
make family strengthening and contact difficult.
3. Engage in Public Policy Advocacy and System Reform:
- Build capacity and collaboration among providers that will lead to
policy change.
- Address practices and arrangements within the corrections system
that make family communication difficult and expensive.
- Use local, county and state governments as untapped resources and
potential partners.
- Address the risk to incarcerated mothers of losing their parental
rights to child welfare under the Federal Adoption and Safe Families Act
of 1997.
- Support a national forum or other infrastructure to enable
advocates, practitioners and people directly affected by this issue to
gather and develop a common policy agenda whose implementation would be
supported with sustained resources.
- Take advantage of timely federal policy opportunities to maximize
the potential of benefiting children and families with incarcerated
parents (or at least do no harm).
4. Create New Strategies to Address Crosscutting Issues and Dual System Families:
- A coordinated action plan is needed to influence existing policies
and system reform that would afford public agencies, corrections, mental
health providers and educators to communicate and collaborate as a
network to address the unique needs of children whose parents are
incarcerated.
- Develop programs that raise awareness and help train groups of
professionals who interact with children and families with incarcerated
parents, such as those in mental health, education, corrections,
juvenile justice and child welfare.
5. Use a Child and Family Focus in Research, Practice, Advocacy and System and Policy Reform:
- Impacts on children and families need to be at the center of
criminal justice policies and systems.
- A family-centered approach could lead to more substantial and
positive changes in terms of public will, courts, judges, corrections
and faith communities.
- There is a strong need for a major public education campaign that
would lay the groundwork for a family-centered approach in the field and
enhance public will around this cause.
An in-depth scan of the field to determine progress toward these
recommendations is beyond the scope of this article. However, in the
two years since this report was written and published, there is evidence
that significant work at the local, state and national level has
continued and some critical accomplishments have been achieved. Yet
with every stone that is turned, I have learned more about the
overwhelming amount of work yet to be done for this population, gaps
that have been realized or that remain unaddressed, and nuances that
have not been considered.
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