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Effects of incarcerated parents on children
Effect of incarceration of parents on children
The effects of parental incarceration on children
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Should kids be allowed to visit their parents? What impact will it cause? In a study of a group of kids when asked about their parents being incarcerated most replied with “We’re not supposed to talk about him” (Sack). What does this mean; is it negative or positive? Does the kids have a terrible experience or traumatic experience to even think about them? Visiting incarcerated parents should not be allowed because prisons are a negative environment, the family is widely affected, and it has a long term impact emotionally and physically on children. Nevertheless, visiting a loved one in prison can be a sensitive subject. When someone wants visits a loved one in prison, they go through a perilous process to be allowed inside prison walls. …show more content…
Either they cannot afford to pay for the old home alone or want to be closer. By moving just to be closer can change a child way more with the realization that a loved one will be gone for a few years or might not come back. Living in a new environment is way more than a kid can handle. A lost parent and a new environment with new people shut down their social life and make them anti-social. If a child cannot express themselves it can lead too many emotional problems. One way to avoid all the major impacts is having the parent lie about the event, it is not practical but most effective. No visitation or moving, leads to little to no traumatic effect while young. Facts have proven that a parent going to prison is more traumatic than a death or divorce (Weil “My First”). Letting a child visit in prison is very risky. Risking a child emotional and development is a major risk to just visit, which may have a small chance they will turn out better.
When having a parent locked up their school life can change drastically. Just having a parent in prison gives a child a higher chance than others in their school to go to jail unlike they ordinarily would with law obeying parents. The child could have beautiful grades and never broken a rule, but still be affected. Peers in schools may not be looked at the same way again or be labelled and others will try to avoid them; just because they talked about their visits. This could lead to a drastic downfall of grades, higher suspensions, and lead to a life of
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.
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.
Another factor would be the unfriendly environment of the jail and prison. The prison environment can be frightening and upsetting for children and may lead them to not want to return. The child welfare caseworker needs to help the caregiver know how to prepare the child for the visit, giving the child some idea of what to expect about the security procedures and a description of the facility and assuring the child that it is all right to talk about his or her reactions (Appendix 4.16, pg3). The most common is a negative relationship between the caregiver and the incarcerated parent, the caregiver may feel that any contact with the inmate may harm the child mentally and physically. Which leads to the caregiver cutting all ties with the incarcerated parent. The main goal of the caregiver is to provide a safe living environment for the child.
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.
“Although nearly 90% of children remain with their mothers when fathers go to prison, grandparents usually care for children when mothers are incarcerated” (Johnson & Waldfogel, 2002; Snell, 1994 as cited in; Poehlmann). This shows that the family structure is more drastically upset when the mother is imprisoned versus the father. This also shows that just losing one parent while staying in the same environment is easier to self-adjust back into equilibrium than it is to fully change and integrate into another household. While the mother is in prison, the child is now in the care of someone else and where that child is, is crucial to their development. This explains that a disrupt in family structure can impact a child’s skills that are necessary to a positive development, such as reading and math skills and the ability to focus in class to learn. Emily Durkheim’s structural functionalism theory can be used to further explain this topic. A child’s family is an organism, no matter that typicality of it’s makeup. Every person has a role in the structure and when a mother is incarcerated that disrupts the system and the children are moved into a new structure, the process towards equilibrium can be tough and in some cases detrimental to their development as they are exposed to more intellectual
Aftercare programs are used often with juveniles in hopes of preventing recidivism. Recidivism is of high concern to the criminal justice system in that the safety of the public depends on low recidivism rates. Juvenile Incarceration facilities have programs set up, such as education and pro-social behavior classes, to promote bettering the juvenile’s life. However, research has shown that the progress made while incarcerated slowly declines upon release. This is testimony to the importance of aftercare programs in preventing recidivism.
There are millions of adults in federal prison, but The United States is the only country in the world that condemns children to die in prison (Pequeneza, 2014). It’s sad to think about children being sentenced to life in prison, and frankly it is a disturbing and a scary fact to face. However, in recent years the U.S Supreme Court has made it illegal to charge juveniles with life sentencing for anything less than murder (Pequeneza, 2014). This new law gives children a second chance at life when they are finally released from prison. Many children are forced to be in a household that is not suitable for a developing child. Children are mistreated, neglected, abused, and other factors. These unfit situations that children are in make them more likely to become violent, and maybe end up in juvenile
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
On the other hand many parents think that sending your child to jail for a day is a terrible idea. The first thing is that they learn there lesson at jail if they are doing something bad. Many kids learn their lesson from others being rude or mean to them. The second reason is that many people think that it is a bad thing to send them to jail for a day because they will be scarred for life and maybe never want to speak to you again. The good thing of sending their kids to jail is that they learn many lessons and they also give them warning and consequences if they do something wrong. In a movie that I don't remember the name of I saw a girl who wouldn't clean or do what her mother would say so she sarcastically said “Ok then if you won't do what I want you to do then I will send you to jail for not listening to me” and the kid always cleaned her room and listened to her mother. In conclusion, people think that sending their children to jail is a good idea so they learn their lesson.Then other parents don't like that because they might not talk to you because you sent them to jail and that they are very harsh on kids that do stuff
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.
In 2007, 52 percent of prisoners were parents in the United States which is a big number. A lot of people like to call the black men that have been incarcerated the missing fathers. Incarceration can lead to extreme financial distress for the entire family with harsh implications for children. So children with imprisoned parents also do worse in school an important indicator of economic mobility. I believe that it has become a cycle where if the children who become fatherless because they have no one too look up too. And most of the time the other parent is working alot to keep up with the finances. So usually the children have no one to look up too so must of the time children end up doing things that they know thats not safe. And sometimes the children end up going in to crime and going to jail. Sometimes when theres not a strong family home the children don't know what to do
Is it fair to give juveniles life sentences? On June 25 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, stated that “Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features- among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate the risks and consequences. It prevents taking into account the family and home environment that surrounds him and from which he cannot usually extricate himself no matter how brutal or dysfunctional.” Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison or adult jail until legal age. Due to the facts that many are still young and aren’t over eighteen.
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