From 1997-2007, the rate of women becoming incarcerated increased by 99 percent (Perry et al. 458). This raises the question of what happens to the children of these women. One solution is full time residency programs in which mothers can raise their children in a prison program which provides a safe and steady environment for the child. Despite the claim that a prison environment is abusive to a child, mothers should be able to raise their children in prison because of the benefits to the child, benefits to the mother, and reduced rate of recidivism. Before one can form an opinion on this issue, one must first understand the background and circumstances. In New South Wales, Australia, the Mothers and Children Program Policy is the main legislation …show more content…
These children are already in danger to develop “developmental, behavioral, educational, and psychiatric problems” (Kenny 12). The possibility of “poorer peer relations, greater moodiness and symptoms of depression and anxiety compared with securely attached children.” For children coming from homes of financial stress, these effects have a greater effect on attachment quality (Kenny 6). “The impact of a break in parent-child attachment can lead to maladaptive coping mechanisms by the child, including truancy at school. This may, in turn, lead to a decrease in school attainment or cognitive development, drug and alcohol abuse, and other disruptive or antisocial behaviors.” (Perry et al. 459). One study found that children of incarcerated parents were up to six times more likely than the average person (Perry et al. 461). This is quite alarming considering that another study found that offenders who had been incarcerated in a juvenile facility were more likely to be prolific offender (Nelson).
After an investigation of the behaviors of children living with an incarcerated parent and children living apart from their incarcerated parent, one study came to a surprising conclusion. “Co-residing children showed rates of clinically significant attention deficit/hyperactivity, anxious/depressed, and withdrawn behavior comparable to rates found in a normative sample, while separated children showed
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Many people could argue that keeping those feelings locked up is not healthy for the mother and could affect her parenting. For mothers who can only see their children during short visits, it can be difficult for her and her child to say goodbye to each other. One mother reports of her child, “Sometimes she gives me dirty looks or frowns at me when she’s leaving. Like puzzled, like ‘Why am I going?’. It makes me upset too” (Perry et al. 461). One could conclude that the feelings of this mother are shared by many
Roberts, Dorothy. E. 2012. “Prison, Foster Care, and the Systematic Punishment of Black Mothers (Overpoliced and Underprotected: Women, Race, and Criminalization).” UCLA Law Review. 59:6, 1474-1500.
In the reading by Lynne Haney, “Motherhood as Punishment: The Case of Parenting in Prison”, Haney decided to focus on analyzing a facility that allows mothers to parent from prison. She analyzed what it meant for mothers to have to parent in prison. Specifically she wanted to investigate why it seemed that this program seemed to promise a new alternative, in order to reunify family. However, through her observations she saw that motherhood was being undermined and if anything the mothers had less power, even though the program promised more. She specifically discusses four main points in the article that are as follows: Motherhood is undermined, subsumed, punished, and finally how she observed parenting from mass incarceration.
There are many prison programs that can incarcerated families especially mothers and fathers. These programs that are made up are there to help parents reunite with their children by giving them tools and information about how to treat children, to control their emotions and reaction towards issues that might get out of control, some programs even help by educating and increasing a parents self-esteem by giving them knowledge information. Not only do parenting prison programs help bond parents and children but it also helps the incarcerated person get connected with the outside world again by giving their community an insight on how to help and respond to an incarcerated person needs. In this research paper the following issues will be looked at: attachment-based program, the types of problems parents have with their children while incarcerated, and the teachings of parental strategies to use when in prison and out of prison.
While most expectant mothers are planning for baby showers, shopping for maternity clothes and preparing the baby’s nursery, the incarcerated mother-to-be has to remain in a constant state of alertness and preparedness for situations that can put her and her unborn baby at risk, in an environment that is both intimidating and routinely violent. (Hutchinson et. al., 2008)
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).
Easterling and Johnson. (2012). Understanding Unique Effects of Parental Incarceration on Children: Challenges, Progress, and Recommendations. Journal of Marriage and Family, 342-356.
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.
How people mature into grownups is directly affected by the moments they experience as children and young adults. Most of what children learn happens at home through their parents. Estimates indicate that more than 1.3 million children in the United States have mothers who are in jail, prison, or on parole, and most affected children are less than 10 years old (Mumola as cited in; Poehlmann). That information leads into the research question, what are the effects incarcerated mothers have on their children? Do those children develop and mature just as their peers do? I hypothesize that: the offspring of incarcerated mothers are more at risk for intellectual problems than their peers.
children faced with the trauma of loss, they are also faced with a myriad of other
Parental incarceration can affect many aspects of a child’s life, including emotional and behavioral well-being, family stability and financial circumstances. The growing number of children with an incarcerated parent represents one of the most significant collateral consequences of the record prison population in the U.S. Children who have an incarcerated parent require support from local, state, and federal systems to serve their needs. Kids pay both the apparent and hidden costs while their loved one serves out sentences in jail or prison.
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).
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.
A large burden is placed on families when youth are incarcerated. There is not only the pain of being separated, but it also prevents families from being involved in the juvenile’s life, which is a barrier to the child’s recovery, future, and
Not only is prison ineffective in preventing reoffending in women and is expensive, it can be extremely damaging to the female’s well-being and their families. The effect that a custodial sentence has on women is arguably far worse than for men. Women are often not prepared or equipped for their life following their prison sentence; due to the fact that women are more likely to be lone parents before prison (Social Exclusion Unit, 2002), are more likely to leave prison homeless and unemployed (Wedderburn, 2000), and are more likely to lose access of their children whilst serving their sentence (Corston, 2007). Statistics from 2010 showed that around 17,000 children become separated from their mother by imprisonment (Wilks-Wiffen, 2011). This can be absolutely devastating to not only the female offender, but to their innocent children too. Moreover, due to the small number of women’s prisons, the average distance that women are sent away from their homes is around 60 miles (Women in Prison, 2013). Therefore, even if the women are lucky enough to keep in contact with their children, it can be tremendously hard to organise visitation and uphold