Marla Hall, Gene Hayes, Ashley Carlson, Márcio Padilha

ADDS 202 – Christy

College of Southern Idaho

Fall/2009

The Impact of Parental

Incarceration on
Children
Fact or Crap?
Fact or Crap?

Since 1991 children with incarcerated

parents
has increased by more than 50 %.
Fact or Crap?

Fact
Fact or Crap?

1.1 million incarcerated persons are

parents to an estimated 1.5 million
children.
Fact or Crap?

Crap

It is estimated at 2.3 million

Fact or Crap?

Children of incarcerated parents are

6 to 10 times more likely to end up in
prison than the average young people.
Fact or Crap?

Fact
Fact or Crap?

2% of children with incarcerated

mothers will be put into foster care.
Fact or Crap?

Crap
10% do and 2% with fathers
Fact or Crap?

1 in 50 children in the US has a parent in

prison.
Fact or Crap?

Crap
1 in 40 children do.
Fact or Crap?

Between 4 and 5 million children have a

parent
under correctional supervision.
Fact or Crap?

Crap
More than 7 million do.
Fact or Crap?

Children of incarcerated parents are usually

not with their parent at the time of there
arrest.
Fact or Crap?

Crap
Most children are with there parent
at the time of their arrest.
Fact or Crap?

Children of incarcerated parents spend

an average of 5 years 6 months separated
from there parent.
Fact or Crap?

Crap
They spend an average of 6 years 8
months separated from them.
 
Fact or Crap?

An infant is not affected when

a parent is incarcerated.
Fact or Crap?

Crap
The infant begins to bond with the primary
caregiver, which in turn causes many
problems when the parent returns even
when incarcerated for only a short period
of time.
Magnitude

“On any given day in America, it is estimated

that more than 1.5 million children have
a parent incarcerated in a state or federal
prison. Several million more have grown up
with a parent in prison during some part of
their formative years.”

(Stacey M. Bouchet, 2008)

Rising Numbers

From 1991 to 2007:

•
1.7 million children
•
82% increase
•
w/ avg. age of 8 yrs.
•
22% of children are under the
age of 5.
Racial Differences


African American Children:

9 time more likely

Hispanic Children:

3 times more likely

1:43 Am; 1:15 B; 1:42 Lat.; 1:111 W

2/3 of incarcerated parents are
non-white.
Rising Numbers

2007:

•
809,800 parents of US State & Fed
Facilities
•
79% (809,800 was 50% of pop.)
•
122% increase in incarcerated
mothers
•
76% increase in fathers
Offense Type


Fathers:

Twice more likely to serve for a
violent crime.


Mothers:

More likely to serve for drug-related
offenses and fraud.
Average Time Served


Fathers:

serve on avg. 80-103 mo.

Mothers:

serve 49-66 mo.

Higher numbers are federal
averages; Lower are State
Visits

In many ways, prison visiting

policies do not reflect the needs or best
interests of children.
Visits

• Visits calm child fears of parent's welfare

• In 2004, over half of incarcerated (state &
federal) were never visited by their children
• More likely during first year
• 8% of mothers were visited weekly
• 18% monthly
• 20% less than monthly
Parental Involvement


Parental involvement is important because
Incarceration would carry different meaning
and have different consequences for
children who do or do not reside with their
parents prior to incarceration.

37-46% of parent-prisoners had been
physically present prior to incarceration.

65% mothers; 44% fathers.
When Parents are Incarcerated

Despite specific cases

(e.g. abusive parents) where
the removal of a parent is beneficial,
children generally suffer when a parent
is removed from the home.
When Parents are Incarcerated


When fathers go the mother takes over
90%

When mom goes Dad assumes
responsibility only 28%-31% of the time.

Often grandparents
45% (fed) to 53% (State Inc.)

Fewer than 10% of children (-mom) end
up in Foster Care.
When Parents are
Incarcerated
Even parents involved in criminal activities
can still steer children in pro-social directions
(Hirschi, 1969:94-97).

“Control and socialization theories tend to

see children as situated in a struggle of
allegiances between family and peers, with
the absence of a parent shifting the balance
of this struggle in favor of antisocial peers”
(Hagan & Dinovitzer, 1999:126).
Down-Side of Foster Care


Law enforcement lack training
concerning placement of children when
arresting.

Kinship placements tend to be more
stable.

10% of inc. mothers have a child in F.C.

The average stay for a child w/ an inc.
mother is 3.9 years.
Down-Side of Foster Care

Children of Incarcerated mothers are:


More likely to “age out” of the foster care
system


Less likely to reunify with their parents,
get adopted, enter into subsidized
guardianship, go into independent living
or leave through some other means.
Reason Unification is Low

•
The 1997 Adoption and Safe
Families Act mandates termination
of parental rights if a child has
been in foster care for more than
15 of the last 22 months.

•
Women typically serve 18 mo.
Pregnancy

In 1994 6% of women arrested were
pregnant.

Few prisons allow mothers to keep
infants

Crucial Bonding is lost

Leads to emotional and behavioral
problems

A separation anytime within first year
leads to attachment disorders.
Of the Children


70% (w/ inc. mom) – emotional or
psychological problems.

(75%) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Social Isolation

50% problems in school (grades &
behavior)

1 in 5 witness & report flashbacks &
nightmares

38% are deceived on the facts
What came first?
Psychological Problems
• Separation from a parent for any reason
will likely result in stress, sadness, and anger.

• However, while death is naturally occurring and final,

incarceration is ambiguous; children may not know
how to cope with the loss of a parent that is alive,
but is emotionally, psychologically and physically
absent.

• The trauma of a parental incarceration often

triggered chronic sleeplessness, difficulties
concentrating and depression.

(Miller 2006)
Psychological Problems
• Other psychological affects include:

• Anxiety and hyper arousal

• Attention disorders
• Self-Image: Identification with incarcerated parent,
awareness of social stigma and low self-esteem.
• Developmental regression
• Clearly, children are very much impacted by this
sudden and ambiguous change.
Behavioral Problems

One in five children had clinically significant

internalizing problems, and one in three had
clinically significant externalizing problems,
compared to roughly one in ten children
in the general population

(Phillips and Gleeson 2007).

Behavioral Problems

• Internalizing Behaviors:
• Depression, disordered eating and sleeping,
and emotional withdrawal.

• Externalizing Behaviors:
• Aggression, developmental regression,
and acting out with impulsive
and disruptive behavior.
Behavioral Problems
• Differences in older children:

• Older children are more likely to hold secure

attachments with the incarcerated parent,
which could mean that the child is aware of
and understands the complexity of the
situation.

• However, older children can display more

antisocial behavior, conduct disorders,
and signs of anxiety and depression
Behavioral Problems
• Differences in younger children:

• Younger children usually don’t understand

the complexity and significance
of having an incarcerated parent.

• Also, whereas older children are quit aware

of the situation and begin to display
internalizing and externalizing behaviors,
younger children experience disorganized
feelings and behaviors upon the confusion of
their parent’s incarceration.
Behavioral Problems
• Differences in genders:

• Males: Believed to suffer more from parental

separation, as they are more likely to lose their same
sex-parent, to face social expectations of
“toughness”, and to display psychological
vulnerability (Amato 1994).

• Although research has discovered mixed findings on

the different reactions in genders, with some studies
finding more severe antisocial reactions among boys
and others finding worse affects among girls (Murray
and Farrington 2007).
Costs
Financial problems are greatest for families
where the imprisoned family member
carried out responsible parenting roles
and for families who seek to help the
prisoner, provide care for his or her
children and
maintain parent-child relationships.
Economic consequences
• When parents go to prison, most families:
• Experience financial losses
• Incur additional financial expenses

• Poor Families:
• Use their meager incomes to:
• Meet many, if not all, of the costs required to raise
prisoners’ children.
• Subsidize prison operations by sending prisoners money
to buy toiletries and food from the prison commissary
• Cover prisoners’ co-pays for health care
• Pay for collect phone costs
Economic Consequences

Data from a national study of income dynamics in

the United States show that when resident
fathers go to prison, the family income declines
significantly during the incarceration. Moreover,
the family does not resume/regain this pre-
incarceration income level in the first several
years following the father’s release
Stigma/Economic
Consequences

• When their husband’s status as a convict

became known, prisoners’ wives report to
have been:

• denied housing
• charged higher insurance rates
• barred from advancement opportunities
Stigma/Economic
Consequences
In some cities, individuals applying for an
apartment lease are routinely asked
whether anyone living in the household
has ever been arrested; if the answer is
“yes,”
they are told that no apartments are
available.
Stigma/Economic
Consequences
• Former prisoners:

• Are legally barred from many jobs and

professions
• Cannot vote in many states

• Are unable to:

• Live in public housing

• Take out certain types of loans
• Receive food stamps if they have been convicted of
drug charges.
Community Resources
• Amachi Mentoring
Provides one-to-one mentors to children with parents
who are incarcerated or recently released.
www.amachimentoring.org

• Angel Tree/Angel Tree Camping

Provides religious ministry, mentoring, and support to
the children and families of prisoners. Distributes holiday
gifts to children of prisoners and provides a children's
camping program.
www.angeltree.org
Community Resources

• Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents

Provides services in four components: informational,
educational, family reunification, and therapeutic.
www.e-ccip.org

• Fathers Behind Bars, Inc.

Provides publications and technical assistance on self-
help support groups for incarcerated fathers.
fathersbehindbars2@msn.com
Community Resources
• Forever Family
Provides gifts for children, group activities, after-school
programs, mentoring and tutoring services, parent/child
group activities, and supervised family visitations.
www.takingaim.net

• Girl Scouts Beyond Bars

Provides scouting activities for incarcerated mothers and
their children. Provides family reunification support,
support groups, mentoring to mothers and daughters by
volunteers.
www.gscm.org
Community Resources

• Long Distance Dads

Provides training and technical assistance on parent
education for incarcerated fathers. The Long Distance
Dads curriculum is used in over 145 correctional
facilities in 24 states of the USA as well as in Canada,
Great Britain, and Africa. Provides extensive fatherhood
resources and publications.
www.fatherhood.org
Community Resources

• U.S. Dream Academy

Provides children in grades 3 through 6 daily after-school
programming that includes online academic enrichment, healthy
lifestyles instruction, homework assistance, values training, and
mentoring. Provides video-visiting to support communication between
prison and home.
www.usdreamacademy.org

• Volunteers of America
Provides literacy and family strengthening programming for
incarcerated parents and their children. Parents take a class then read
and record books. The recordings are given to the children along with
a book bag, personal tape player, and other supplies.
www.voa.org
Community Resources

• Volunteers of America
Provides literacy and family strengthening programming
for incarcerated parents and their children. Parents take
a class then read and record books. The recordings are
given to the children along with a book bag, personal
tape player, and other supplies.
www.voa.org
Research
• Broken Bonds: Understanding and Addressing
the Needs of Children with Incarcerated
Parents, La Vigne, N.G., Davies, E., and
Brazzell, D. (2008).

This report by the Urban Institute reviews the current

research on children with incarcerated parents, and offers
recommendations on how to reduce the negative impact
of parental incarceration. The authors of the report pay
particular attention to the influence that supportive
relationships with the incarcerated parent and other
adults has on children’s outcomes.

www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411616
Research
• Children with Parents in Prison: Child
Welfare Policy, Program, and Practice
Issues, Seymour, C., and Hairston, C.F.
(2000).
Explores challenges facing child welfare agencies
serving children with incarcerated parents.
Discusses the impact of parental incarceration on
the child, considers current child welfare policy and
practice, and discusses the shared interests of child
welfare and advocacy groups for criminal justice
and prisoner advocacy. Proposes suggestions for a
comprehensive strategy for meeting needs of
incarcerated parents and their children.
Research
• Families Left Behind: The Hidden Costs of
Incarceration and Reentry, Travis, J.,
Cincotta, E.M., and Solomon, A.L. (2006).

Few studies have explored the impact of parental incarceration

on young children or identified the needs that arise from such
circumstances. Little attention has focused on how
communities, social service agencies, health care providers,
and the criminal justice system can work collaboratively to
better meet the needs of the families left behind. This policy
brief is intended to help focus attention on these hidden costs
of our criminal justice policies.

www.urban.org/publications/310882.html
Research

•Focus on Children with Incarcerated

Parents: An Overview of the Research
Literature, Hairston, C.F. (2007).

This report provides an overview of major research findings on

children whose parents are incarcerated as a means of further
informing this developing area of research, practice, and
policy. The findings and policy and program suggestions
offered in this synthesis are based primarily on research
published during the last 20 years.

www.aecf.org/childrenofincarcerated.aspx
Research
• Incarcerated Parents and Their Children,
Mumola, C. (2000). This report is based on
the 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and
Federal Correctional Facilities.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) finds that

incarcerated women are more likely than men to be
parents and to have been the primary caregiver of their
children prior to their arrest.

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/iptc.htm
Research
• Parental Incarceration and Child Wellbeing in
Fragile Families In this policy brief, the
authors highlight findings from the Fragile
Families and Child Wellbeing Study,
conducted through Columbia University’s
School of Social Work.

The study explores the extent to which children of

incarcerated parents are at a greater risk for material
hardship, family instability, and developmental challenges.

www.aecf.org/childrenofincarcerated.aspx
Research

• Services for Families of Prison Inmates A

survey of state and federal departments of
corrections. National

Institute of Corrections, February 2002.

www.nicic.org/pubs/2002/017272.pdf
Research

• Serving Incarcerated and Ex-Offender

Fathers and Their Families: A Review of the
Field, Jeffries, J.M., Menghraj, S., and
Hairston, C.F. (2001).

A review of materials developed and disseminated by

programs serving prisoners or low-income fathers and
their families.
www.vera.org/publications/publications_5.asp?
publication_id=20
Research
• Understanding the Experiences and Needs
of Children of Incarcerated Parents: Views
from Mentors

To better understand the experiences and needs of

children with incarcerated parents, Urban Institute
researchers collaborated with mentors from Big
Brothers, Big Sisters to gather qualitative data
through the use of focus groups with the mentors of
children whose parents are incarcerated.

www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411615
General Resources
• What We Know Now that We Didn’t Know
Then, Phillips, S.D., and Gleeson, J.P. About
the Criminal Justice System’s Involvement
in Families with Whom Child Welfare
Agencies Have Contact.

Center for Social Policy and Research, Jane Addams

College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago,
July 2007.

www.uic.edu/jaddams/college/research/What
%20we%20know%20now.pdf
General Resources

• All Alone in the World: Children of the

Incarcerated, Bernstein, N. (2005).

Award-winning journalist Nell Bernstein takes an

intimate look at parents and children affected by U.S.
incarceration policy. Described as “meticulously
reported and sensitively written” by Salon, the book is
“brimming with compelling case studies . . . and
recommendations for change.”
General Resources
• Children and Families with Incarcerated Parents:
Exploring Development in the Field and
Opportunities for Growth, Bouchet, S. (2008).

This report summarizes the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s

findings from consultative sessions with leading researchers,
practitioners, advocates, policymakers, and funders on the
current state of the field and the opportunities for growth and
describes some of the Foundation’s recent investments on this
issue and synthesizes what it has learned into potential
opportunities for the field at large.

www.aecf.org/childrenofincarcerated.aspx
General Resources

• CW360º Spring 2008 issue.

Provides a comprehensive look at a prevalent child

welfare issue—the children of incarcerated parents. This
journal is published by the University of Minnesota,
Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare.

http://cehd.umn.edu/SSW/cascw/research/cw360.a
sp
General Resources

• Family and Corrections Network

Provides information, technical assistance, and training

on families of offenders, children of prisoners, parenting
programs for prisoners, prison visiting, and the impact of
the justice system on families. FCN’s website has over
100 articles, an e-mail list, a directory of programs, and
links to offender family websites.

www.fcnetwork.org
General Resources

• Grantmakers for Children, Youth and

Families Beyond the Bars: A new GCYF
Learning Initiative on Children with
Incarcerated Parents.

www.gcyf.org
General Resources
• When a Parent Is In Prison, by Howard Zehr
and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz; photos by
Howard Zehr, design by Judith Rempel
Smucker.

Exhibit can be borrowed from Mennonite Central

Committee, U.S. Office on Justice and Peacebuilding and
the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern
Mennonite University.

www.tngsecure.com/scripts/mcc/catalog/product_
detail.php?pid=1002
Works Cited

• Stacey M. Bouchet, P. (2008). Exploring Development in the Field and

Opportunities for Growth. Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation.

•  Ziebert, R. (2006). No easy answers: The effects of parental incarceration on

children. Milwaukee: Alliance for Children and Families.

• Children of incarcerated parents fact sheet. The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

• Schirmer, S., Nellis, A., Mauer, M. (2009). Incarcerated parents and their children:
Trends 1991-2007. The Sentencing Project.

• Parke, R., Clarke-Stewart, K. A. (2002). Effects of parental incarceration on young

children.
Group Distribution
• Gene Hayes – “Crap or Fact?”

• Marla Hall – Statistics

• Ashley Carlson – Psychological &

Behavioral Problems
• Márcio – Stigma, Economic Consequences,
PowerPoint and Handouts.