Children who experience parental incarceration are at considerable risk of adverse developmental outcomes throughout the life course. However, the implications for policy and intervention-how best to intervene to reduce or compensate for such risk-depend critically on whether and how parental incarceration causes adverse outcomes or is predominantly a marker of preexisting (and continuing) disadvantage. To the extent that children experiencing parental incarceration face other adverse experiences and conditions that are likely to lead to poor outcomes, irrespective of parental incarceration, interventions should address these preexisting and ongoing disadvantages rather than focusing solely on the parental incarceration experience itself. However, if parental incarceration itself, including the myriad proximal processes that constitute the parental incarceration experience (see, e.g., Chapter 3, this volume), is the cause of adverse child outcomes, then policy and practice would be best served by addressing its specific role 8
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