Neglected Youth: the Children of the Incarcerated
The number of children in the United States with at least one incarcerated parent has grown dramatically in recent years. According to a report by Urban Institute, Families Left Behind: The Hidden Costs of Incarceration and Reentry, more than half of adults locked up in state and federal prisons in this country are parents of minor children. As of 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, over 1.7 million children under the age of 18 had at last one parent in prison or jail. And a staggering 10 million children had at least one parent who is in some way under the supervision of the criminal justice system, according to the 2009 fact sheet from the group Children and Families of the Incarcerated.
The effects of sentencing so many parents to serve time are long-reaching and take years to be fully felt by the incarcerated person’s family and entire community. Children whose parents are unable to care for them are sometimes placed with other family members, but not all children are so lucky to be taken in by a loving grandparent, sibling, aunt or uncle. According to the same data from The National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, 15-20 percent of all children entering the child welfare system have a parent in jail or prison. Children whose families are unable to care for them become wards of the state, shifted around in the system, and often left unprepared to deal with adult life by the time they are forced out.
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The impact of these arrests, then, is easily seen in the community. What is sometimes more difficult to recognize and understand are the effects of these stays of parents in correctional facilities on the children involved, which can be both short-term and long-lasting. When made to deal with a parent’s arrest and incarceration, many children experience a period of mourning for the loss of their parent, just as they would for a death. They may also experience a sense of shame that goes along with the social stigma of having a parent in jail or prison, as well as feelings of anger, abandonment, or even guilt. And in addition to all of these difficult and possibly conflicting emotions, having an incarcerated parent now can have an enormous impact on a child’s future success and well being. Children of incarcerated parents may have less ability later on to handle stressful or traumatic situations, poor performance in school and higher chances of abusing alcohol and drugs.
One of the least considered and yet most distressing consequences of parental incarceration is the enormous distance there sometimes is between parent and child. According to the Urban Institute’s report (cited above), women in prison are housed an average of 160 miles away from their children, while men in prison are an average of 100 miles away from their children. Such great distances between prisons and the homes where children stay make it even more difficult for kids to spend any time with their parents at all while incarcerated. The same report stated that more than half of incarcerated parents never once received a visit from their children while in jail or prison. The inability to even visit a parent while s/he serves a sentence only widens the gap between parent and child and makes it harder for both to reconnect and rebuild a healthy relationship after the parent is eventually released.
The detrimental effects of parental incarceration are widespread, touching their children, their families and their entire communities. The little we do know about the numerous consequences of keeping parents in jail or prison and away from their children shows us all how crucial it is to continue to research and better understand the issue, as well as the many things we as a society and a nation can do to improve our children’s lives and chances at success.
