First-of-its-Kind Plan for States to Support Children and Families with Incarcerated Parents
Millions of children in the U.S. experience the traumatic incarceration of a parent, which can harm their education and health and increase their own risk of incarceration. On average, at least one kid in every kindergarten class has or will have a parent who’s incarcerated at some point in their childhood.
Meanwhile, only 60 percent of parents in prison or jail speak to their children on the phone. Some states have made it free for families to talk to their loved ones who are incarcerated, but in many states, kids and their families often can’t afford the high cost of conversation with a parent.
When they do get the chance for an in-person visit, the experience can be traumatic for children.
Every state prison system offers a program to help people parent while incarcerated, but one review found that only half or less focused specifically on issues related to parenting while in prison, and relatively few covered anger and stress management.
Until now, corrections departments and policymakers haven’t had a single, comprehensive framework for all the various ways they can help maintain and even improve children’s relationships with their parents in jail or prison.
Our first-of-its-kind action plan—developed with the National Resource Center on Children & Families of the Incarcerated at Rutgers University-Camden and the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy at UConn—provides evidence-based, trauma-informed strategies for corrections leaders and policymakers to implement or improve:
- Child-friendly visiting spaces
- Parenting programs
- Affordable and accessible communication
- Prison nurseries for mothers and babies
Strengthening parent-child connections benefits everyone by reducing the likelihood and cost of recidivism and making our communities safer.