There are many different social problem that causes stress in the family, such as, divorce, same sex marriage, and abuse/suicide. One such problem is incarcerated parents and the effects it has on children. In fact, as per the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, at Rutgers University in Camden, no less than 2.7 million American kids and young people have no less than one parent in government or state jail (with all the more having parents and other relatives in nearby correctional facilities), and 33% of them will achieve age 18 while a parent is in the in prison (“Parents ' Incarceration”, n.d.). Offspring of incarcerated parents are effected negatively by their parent’s. They are forced to encounter hardships There are many different mechanisms and theories today to help children cope with the life they are handed. How incarceration affects individual level When a parent is incarcerated, they do not just give up their freedom. They also reject and forsake the children and family they have left behind. These children suffer in many different ways. According to the American Bar Foundation, Roughly, half of all confined people in the United States are parents. Offspring of imprisoned parents additionally exhibit trouble transitioning to fruitful grown-up lives, indicating high rates of unemployment, lower instructive accomplishment, and more serious danger of contribution of illegal crimes. Children who are involved in illegal actions are less likely to want to further their education. For example, General U.S. school graduation rate of 40% drops to around one to two percent among kids with detained mothers ("White House”, n.d.). Mothers pay a very important role in a child’s life. They are there to raise and strengthen a child out. As cited in Hueberner and Gustafson study, kids whose moms have been detained will be more likely to participate in the illegal crimes as grown-ups, as compared other children whose moms were not in I. (2012). Understanding Unique Effects of Parental Incarceration on Children: Challenges, Progress, and Recommendations, 74, 345. Dio:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.00957.x Lotze, G. M., Ravindran, N., & Myers, B. J. (2010). Moral emotions, emotion self-regulation callous-unemotional traits and problem behavior in children of incarcerated mothers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 702-713. Doi:10.1007/s10826-010-9358-7. Murray, J., Farrington, D. P., & Sekol, I. (2012). Children 's antisocial behavior, mental health, drug use, and educational performance after parental incarceration: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 175-210. Parents ' Incarceration Takes Toll on Children, Studies Say. (n.d.). Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/02/25/parents-incarceration-takes-toll-on-children-studies.html Tip Sheet for Mentors: Supporting Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent. (n.d.). Retrieved April 07, 2016, from http://www.youth.gov/youth-topics/children-of-incarcerated-parents/federal-tools-resources/tip-sheet-mentors White House Parental Incarceration Workshop. (n.d.). Retrieved April 06, 2016, from
Murray, J. (2005). The effects of imprisonment on families and children of prisoners Retrieved from http://www2.bgsu.edu/downloads/cas/file77089.pdf
When people are in prison, they cannot support their families. Inmates also can’t spend time with their family and their sons or daughters might turn towards crime. When families are split up, the offender’s family is less likely to succeed in the community. This might be because the remaining parent might not be able to handle all the pressure. The remaining parent might also not have a good job that can support the family so they will be in poverty.
When a person becomes a parent, their role in life undoubtedly changes. The person must become a teacher, a guide, and a helping hand in the life of the child. Research has shown that there is a distinct connection between how a child is raised and their overall developmental outcome. John Bowlby’s attachment theory emphasizes the importance of the regular and sustained contact between the parent-infant or parent-child relationship (Travis & Waul 2003). Yet, what happens when the only physical contact a child can share with their parent is a hand pressed on the shield of glass that separates the two? What happens when the last memory of their mother or father was from the corner of their own living room as they watched their parent become handcuffed? In 2007, there was an estimate of approximately 1.7 million children of incarcerated parents in the United States (Poehlmann, Dallaire, Loper & Shear 2010). Of those 1.7 million children, 58% of those children are under the age of 10, with the mean age being 8 (Travis & Waul 2003). The children of incarcerated parents are often moved from one family and one school to the next. The child must cope with this issue in home and in school, and may find it especially hard to cope with during school. Schools, however, can be a safe place for these children. This research explored the psychological effects of parent incarceration on the child, the school-based problems that occur as a result, and what educators can do to support children of incarcerated parents.
Introduction According to Bowen’s (2013) family systems theory, individuals in a family unit are all interconnected and the system is comprised of interlocking connections (Bowen, 2013). Consequently, whenever an individual in a family system is experiencing a stressor or problem the other individuals in the system will be affected by the stressor and will experience a change in the family system (Bowen, 2013). Bowen (2013) suggests that this family system can be used to understand the dynamics of the family unit and explains that an individual’s behavior has a specific function in his or her own family system (Bowen, 2013). By taking into consideration this theory when looking at a family struggling with an incarcerated parent, it is evident that the spouse, children, and grandparents of the family system will be impacted by the incarcerated individual’s situation.
Can you imagine having your parents incarcerated? I can, when I was 10 years old my father was incarcerated and at age 23 my mother was incarcerated. Parental incarceration impacts you as a child or a teen in so many ways due to only one parent or grandparent being able to raise the child without the other. Parental incarceration is a very dramatic event in a child's lifespan. Having a parent incarcerated can have an impact on a child's mental health, social life and educational needs. Studies show parental incarceration can be more traumatic to students than even a parent's death or divorce, and the damage it can cause to students' education, health, and social relationships puts them at higher risk of one day going to prison themselves.(Sparks,
In 2007 there were approximately 77,200 fathers and 65,600 mothers incarcerated in the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007). As our society continues to grow, our jail and prison population are growing as well. When a parent or guardian is taken into custody the juvenile (child) is taken and released to a relative or child protective services. The children are either given to a close family member or a surrogate parent, meaning a foster home. This may have an emotional impact on the juvenile involved, which may lead them to committing delinquent acts. The children sometimes feel they are left to fend for themselves emotionally and the stress of these emotions are left upon the guardian at the time. These intense sufferings sometimes leave the juveniles in a harmful mental state resembling depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and feelings of abandonment from their parents/guardians. Children with incarcerated parents are five times more likely than their peers to commit crimes (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 2008).
The writer’s main goals was to persuade that mass incarceration is huge problem for the academics of children whose parents are incarcerated. Melinda D. Anderson wrote the article toward the criminal justice system and audience that are against mass incarceration. People who have families that are in jails and unintentional audience who read news regarding this issue. Several different people each day are facing problems regarding incarceration. They’re people who have their parents, brothers, sister in jail. The writer is trying to prove the point that having those people in jail is creating hardship for families and it needs to be stopped. The Students who have their parents in jail is causing them to lose not only their parents but also their life because of that fact without their parents, the children do not have a source of income, which leads to being not able to eat, study or perhaps live in safe
Easterling and Johnson. (2012). Understanding Unique Effects of Parental Incarceration on Children: Challenges, Progress, and Recommendations. Journal of Marriage and Family, 342-356.
Being the child of an incarcerated parent has substantial amounts of negative influences on youth today. As young children, many consider their parents as role models. Someone who they can confide in, someone who will preserve them, and someone who will guide them through life. For most youngsters having an incarcerated parent, means that their admirable example in life is absent. Not having a parent present in one's childhood leads to innumerable negative outcomes and impacts.
It is undeniable that mass incarceration devastates families, and disproportionately affects those which are poor. When examining the crimes that bring individuals into the prison system, it is clear that there is often a pre-existing pattern of hardship, addiction, or mental illness in offenders’ lives. The children of the incarcerated are then victimized by the removal of those who care for them and a system which plants more obstacles than imaginable on the path to responsible rehabilitation. Sometimes, those returned to the community are “worse off” after a period of confinement than when they entered. For county jails, the problem of cost and recidivism are exacerbated by budgetary constraints and various state mandates. Due to the inability of incarceration to satisfy long-term criminal justice objectives and the very high expenditures associated with the sanction, policy makers at various levels of government have sought to identify appropriate alternatives(Luna-Firebaugh, 2003, p.51-66).
Hairston, C., & Lockett, P. (1987). Parents in Prison: New Directions for Social Services. Social Work , 162-164.
Krisberg, B. A. & Temin, C. E. (2001). The plight of children whose parents are in prison. National Council on Crime Delinquency. Available:F:USERSEveryoneWEBSITE ARTICLESChildren of Incarcerated Parents Newsletter.wpd
So how are children effected by the prison system? They are effected in everyday life, more than some of can even imagine. Whether it may be school or sports or surviving life itself. Nothing makes a child happier than to see their parents happy for them, but for many children, that is just mere dream. A dream that may
The challenges of children who grow up with parents whom were incarcerated at some point in their childhood can have a major effect on their life. The incarceration of parents can at times begin to affect the child even at birth. Now with prison nurseries the impregnated mother can keep her baby during her time in jail. With the loss of their parent the child can begin to develop behavioral problems with being obedient, temper tantrums, and the loss of simple social skills. Never learning to live in a society they are deprived of a normal social life. “The enormous increase incarceration led to a parallel, but far less documented, increase in the proportion of children who grew up with a parent incarcerated during their childhood” (Johnson 2007). This means the consequences of the children of the incarcerated parents receive no attention from the media, or academic research. The academic research done in this paper is to strengthen the research already worked by many other people. The impact of the parent’s incarceration on these children can at times be both positive and negative. The incarceration of a parent can be the upshot to the change of child’s everyday life, behavioral problems, and depriving them a normal social life.
There is a plethora of data within the last 10-15 years that repeatedly show family, friends, and entire communities or neighborhoods being drastically affected by the consequences of mass incarceration as well. The data focus primarily on the effects on the partners, children, families, friends, and caregivers of those incarcerated; particularly the economic, emotional, and personal relationships between incarcerated individuals and those the data also