Incarcerated Parents

There are approximately 10 percent of children with incarcerated mothers, and 2 percent of children of incarcerated fathers that are in foster homes. The additional challenges are safe and secure environments, such as children that are at risk for insecure attachment, and experiencing caregivers who are inconsistent, insensitive, or unresponsive to a child’s social and emotional needs. There are challenges of risk for poverty, trauma of losing a parent, drug and alcohol abuse, family violence and parental mental illness. Many children of incarcerated parents suffer with poor school performance, shame, and guilt of their parent being incarcerated. They are subject to depression, anxiety, withdrawal, behavior problems, and cognitive delays, all
African American children are eight times more likely to have a parent incarcerated than white children. We have more children with an incarcerated parent in the U.S. than children diagnosed with autism, or juvenile diabetes.

Children of Incarcerated Parents
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One of the challenges with research regarding children of incarcerated parents is the little amount of focus of this problem with children. It seems as professionals of child development, psychology, sociology, social work, criminology, nursing, and public health has identified these children as a population of little interest, and ten years later there is still little research done.
It has been studied that child trauma stemming from paternal incarceration as one of the causes of aggressive behavior. Children’s experience in the context of parental incarceration has been characterized as enduring trauma in that it involves ongoing and repeated stressors that impede development. (Myers et al. 1999).
Like homeless adults, homeless children of incarcerated parents suffer high rates of victimization, exposure to infectious disease, and elevated risk of mortality. They struggle to keep up with their schoolwork, run high risks of abuse, and suffer more mental health
If the parents reside together and one is convicted of a drug felony the other runs the risk of losing subsidized housing. Our policies and procedures of those with felonies seems to keep them down, isn’t prison time enough, and they can’t even vote, we wonder why our former inmates keep going back to prison, what other opportunities do they have? If these people have no other opportunities by being denied welfare, or subsidized housing how can the parent take care of their children once they are released from prison.
Another risk of children of incarcerated parents becoming homeless is due to depression of the mother, in some cases the mother simply cannot function after their partner has been incarcerated. Because mothers going into prison has greatly increased the need for foster care has greatly increased, which has become more and more scarce.
Mentoring relationships that are important for fostering positive youth outcomes include;
Active guidance to build skills, and to ensure growth and development.
Advocacy, to ensure the child has adequate resources.
Closeness and emotional connection with the child.
Showing an interest in the child, and what they are involved