The Impact of Parental Incarceration on Children: An Emerging Need for Effective Interventions

Abstract

The increasing number of children with incarcerated parents constitutes perhaps one of the largest at-risk populations in the United States. Short-and long-term effects of parental incarceration are difficult to quantify; however, the current literature indicates that this population is negatively responding to major shifts in family structure, and is vulnerable to economic stress and adverse interpersonal issues. Service providers are seeking appropriate intervention strategies to address the resultant issues of parental incarceration. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of research on effective practice methods. This paper reviews the literature on the potential implications parental incarceration has on children, and discusses service providers' concerted efforts to allay the consequences. Recommendations for appropriate data collection and identification of relevant gender, developmental, and cultural interventions are provided.

Hardships Children face in the United States of America by Having a Parent in Prison: How to Help Them! A Program Proposal

“…Many researchers link the swift increase of parental incarceration with the onset of stricter sentencing laws, implemented in response to "America's War on Drugs" issue and addressing repeated offenders [9,10,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. The more stringent sentencing laws consisted of: mandatory minimum sentencing statutes, "three strikes and you're out" law and "truth-in-sentencing" laws.…”

“…The outcome of strict sentencing legislation largely populated the US prison with minority offenders who committed drug offenses, while concurrently, the rate of women becoming incarcerated began to outnumber men like never before [10,13,[15][16][17][18][19][20]. For example, from 1986 until 1999 as more women were charged with drug offenses, out of home placements for children living with a relative or entering the foster care system was enormously elevated [10,13,15,16,20].…”

“…For example, from 1986 until 1999 as more women were charged with drug offenses, out of home placements for children living with a relative or entering the foster care system was enormously elevated [10,13,15,16,20]. Strict sentencing laws were created for the purpose of deterring drug distributions and violent criminals.…”

“…It is the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, aka "three strikes law," and habitual offender law, that is taking a toll on the increase of non-violent men and women offenders [13,15,16,18,19,23]. Even though laws were already being utilized in states, it was perceived by the public and elected officials that additional sentencing policies/ laws were needed to strengthen the ones that already existed by minimizing sentencing discrimination [18,19].…”

‘It was just like we were a family again’: play as a means to maintain family ties for children visiting an imprisoned parent

“…Indeed, the Barnados organisation (2013), a British charity for vulnerable children and young people, has argued that prisons need to become more family focused. This has been reiterated by Miller (2006) who has urged prisons to provide innovative services, such as enhanced visitation programmes that allow more time and contact between the prisoner and his/her child which may potentially alleviate the impact of parental incarceration. This aim of this paper is to report on the outcomes of one prison visit service and to discuss the impact the service had on prisoners' children, prisoners and families.…”