Kids With Incarcerated Parents
By Julie Poehlmann-Tynan, PhD
Children and adolescents of incarcerated parents face many barriers. The loss of a parent to the criminal justice system, even temporarily, can often be a hard adjustment. While it may be critical to discuss...
Many children of incarcerated parents are exposed to a pile-up of risk factors that are mainly out of their control. The culmination can lead to internalizing and externalizing behaviors that we sometimes think are...
In the United States, more than 5 million children have experienced a co-resident parent leaving for jail or prison. After attending the National Council on Family Relations 2016 Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I learned...
Over the past year, the number of people incarcerated in Wisconsin has increased to over 22,000. More than half of incarcerated individuals in the state have children. I recently had the opportunity to hear...
When parents are arrested and go to prison or jail, children are affected; when parents come home from prison or jail, children are affected. How? Why? What can help children in these circumstances? These...
I have been studying children and families affected by parental incarceration since my first National Institutes of Health grant was funded in 2001. I first became aware of the issue in the late 1990s...
Sesame Street’s Emmy-nominated initiative, Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration, was introduced in June 2013 at the White House. Alex the Muppet has an incarcerated father and he receives support from his friends, including learning...
Contact between incarcerated parents and their children is an emotional topic! Most incarcerated parents say that separation from their children is the most difficult part of being in prison or jail, and having contact...
A recent study indicated that more than 5 million children have experienced a co-resident parent leaving for jail or prison. The vast majority of affected children have an incarcerated father. Children with a father in...
Caregivers of children with incarcerated parents matter! Research has shown that they play a critical role in children’s lives. When fathers are incarcerated, more than 90% of children live with their mothers. When mothers...