“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.
