Parent Incarceration Essay

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,

There is a long process of moving on or sometimes not moving on at all. Parental incarceration is a long process first the parent gets arrested which is very emotional for the child as well as the separation from the parent. With the separation from the parent this good either is positive or negative for the child, plus the reunion after the incarceration. This was a very dramatic time in my life that changed my future and I really started acting out as a child and was getting in a lot of trouble after the incarceration. The arrest had a lot of psychological issues as well as emotional issues on me as a child along with my siblings. I had a lot of separation issues from my father and mother when they were incarcerated. The living situation changed to living with my grandparents and having them raise us kids. There are studies that show that either parent are more likely in be incarcerated when not living with the child, but in my case both my parents were together when my father got

There have been a lot of studies but none that can show which situation is better. I as a child was not prepared for the incarceration of my father and I was very close to my father. My father and I did everything together and he played a major part in my life until that one day. What also plays a part is the how the family interacts with each other in case you have to move in with a family member that you have never lived with. This situation puts fear in the child and for me I was scared moving into my grandparents plus moving away from friends. It took a lot of time for me to warm up and become me again after moving into a new situation as a child. Another important issue is the child being able be in contact with the incarcerated parent and having a normal schedule to see the parent in that setting. There are programs to help these children that are affected by parental incarceration these include counseling or therapy, family therapy, or group therapy, located in schools, clinics, or prisons. There is Youth Advisory Program that aims at adolescents but helps with feelings of isolation, self-esteem, and shame. (Boswell & Wedge,