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            -           Tip Sheet for Providers: Supporting Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent      

# Tip Sheet for Providers: Supporting Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent

## Video and Guide: Creating Conditions that Promote Safety, Healing, and Growth in Child-Parent Visits

## YPAR Research: Nothing about Us without Us

Nothing about Us without Us: Amplifying the Perspectives of Youth with Experiences of Parental Incarceration through Youth Participatory Action Research

## YPAR Research: Raising Voices

Raising Voices: Youth Participatory Action Research to Explore Experiences and Strategies for Improving the Well-Being of Youth with Incarcerated Parents

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**Download the PDF (2 pages).**

This tip sheet was written by youth who have or have had incarcerated parents for service providers who work with them or may interact with them. The purpose is to provide practical advice for how to help the 2.7 million children and youth who have at least one incarcerated parent.

In June 2016, the federal government hosted a listening session with youth from across the country who have or have had an incarcerated parent. The listening session brought together 19 youth, ages 15 to 23, with a diverse range of experiences to discuss the challenges they had during their parent's incarceration and their ideas for how the government could better support them and their families. This tip sheet is a product of that listening session.

### **WHO CAN USE THIS TIP SHEET? *This tip sheet was developed for service providers, who may be staff at youth serving organizations, including community-based and faith-based; advocacy agencies; or state and local government agencies such as departments of labor, housing, corrections, and education.***

## From the youth: What you should know.

                      - We rely on our own inner strength
                      - We often grow up too soon taking on responsibilities:                         - Taking care of younger siblings
                        - Getting jobs to help with family finances
                        - Negotiating services such as healthcare and mental health
                        - Navigating systems and avoiding negative attention from Child Welfare or Human Services who might take us or our siblings away
                      - We love our parents, even though they have made mistakes. We miss them during:                         - Big events like having the parent there for holidays and graduation
                        - Small activities like having the parent there to help with homework and going to our sporting event
                        - Everyday opportunities for having parent as a role model
                      - We are misjudged by many and negatively judged because of our parent(s) or our parent’s actions
                      - We are sometimes told we will turn out like our parent(s) and we are constantly fighting against and running from that judgement
                      - We have different experiences than other youth whose parent is absent for another reason like divorce:                         - Not being able to pick up the phone and talk to our parent any time we want
                        - Not being able to hug our parent during a visit
                        - Being judged differently and feeling shame and stigma because of those judgments
                      - We have different experiences even from each other:                         - Living arrangements before the incarceration
                        - Relationship status with our parent before the incarceration
                        - Being told the truth or lies about the incarceration
                        - Involvement with child welfare during the incarceration
                        - Changes in financial stability during the incarceration
                      - We are not different from other youth in that we are young people, too, with the same needs and wants:                         - To be loved
                        - To have support
                        - To be successful
                        - To have friends
                      - We do not have control over the situation, which is difficult:                         - We don’t know what to expect with the incarceration process or when visiting our parent in a facility
                        - We don’t know with any certainty when we will be able to talk to or see our parent again

## From the youth: Changes we would like to see.

                      - Increased opportunities to visit.  Our parents are often incarcerated in facilities that are far away. Whenever safe and appropriate we would like for courts and correctional agencies to place our incarcerated parents in facilities closer to family. If that’s not possible, courts, corrections, and community-based organizations could consider providing additional transportation assistance to make visitation easier.
                      - More frequent and less expensive opportunities to communicate.  The cost of phone calls from prison can be too expensive, making it difficult, or even impossible, for us to communicate with our parents. Corrections could consider reducing these costs and allowing for longer calls. Organizations serving youth could consider ways to help pay for or share the costs of calls, which would allow us to talk to our parents more often.
                      - Better communication between corrections and schools.  We would like our parents to have the opportunity to participate in parent-teacher conferences. Corrections and courts should consider allowing flexibility for our parents to participate by phone or video technology, which the schools could help coordinate. Additionally, we often receive unexcused absences from school for going to visit our parents during the school day, even when we do not have other options. Schools could consider providing excused absences, and corrections could consider providing proof of visitation.
                      - Improved sharing of information about our parents.  During the arrest, pretrial, trial, incarceration, and reentry processes, our parents are frequently moved around without letting us know. Courts, corrections, and probation should consider ways to ensure that we and our families have the most up to date information possible on the location of our parents.
                      - Better understanding about the impact of mandatory reporting rules.  We frequently choose not to share personal details about our parents or our lives with people or organizations who we fear will report that information to child welfare. Youth serving organizations should be aware of our hesitations and find safe, comfortable ways for us to share what is happening in our lives.
                      - Friendlier interactions when visiting.  We often feel like we are the ones who have done something wrong when we go to visit our incarcerated parents. Most prisons have strict rules about who can visit, the number of visitors, what we can bring, what we can wear, etc. These rules can be unclear, cause our families stress, and sometimes even result in a cancelled visit. Youth serving organizations can help us understand the rules and prepare for our visit. Corrections can make the rules easier to find and provide training for staff that reminds them that family visits are supposed to be a positive experience for all.

*» Return to the overview of the **Listening Session Summary** page.**» Return to **Youth Perspectives** page.*

### Announcements 

                          - Archived Webinar: Innovative Practices to Promote Reunification
                          - Archived Webinar: The Benefits and Importance of Using YPAR with Youth with Incarcerated Parents
                          - National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated
                          - Report: Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and Partnering: Earnings and Child Support Participation Among Reentering Fathers
                          - Report: Parental Incarceration and Children in Nonparental Care
                          - Report: The Experiences of Families During a Father’s Incarceration
                          - Report: The Federal Interagency Reentry Council: A Record of Progress and a Roadmap for the Future
                          - Resource: An Unlikely Partnership: Strengthening Families Touched by Incarceration Video
                          - Resource: Attachment Behaviors in Children with Incarcerated Fathers
                          - Resource: Beyond the ACE Score: Perspectives on Child Trauma and Adversity Screening and Impact
                          - Resource: Change in Parent-Child Relationships Before, During, and After Incarceration
                          - Resource: Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials
                          - Resource: Drug Courts
                          - Resource: Family-Based Justice Center
                          - Resource: Mentoring for Preventing and Reducing Substance Use and Associated Risks among Youth
                          - Resource: National Training and Development Curriculum (NTDC)
                          - Resource: OJJDP Urges System Reform During Youth Justice Action Month (YJAM)
                          - Resource: Prevention and Early Intervention Efforts Seek to Reduce Violence by Youth and Youth Recruitment by Gangs
                          - Resource: Relationships as a Support for Reunification
                          - Resource: Resilience, Opportunity, Safety, Education, Strength (ROSES) Program
                          - Resource: Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents: Implementing the Model Arrest Policy Archived Webinar
                          - Resources: Three New Guides for Families Experiencing the Criminal Justice System
                          - Review: Mentoring for Children of Incarcerated Parents
                          - Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents Roll Call Training Video
                          - Social Media Toolkit: National Reunification Month 2022
                          - Supporting Families Impacted by Incarceration — A Dialogue with Experts
                          - Webinar Recording: Building Parent Leadership and Power to Support Faster, Lasting Reunification and Prevent System Involvement
                          - Youth Voices Have Moved to YE4C

### Collaboration Profiles 

                          - About the Program
                          - About the Program
                          - Connecting for Success
                          - Just Beginning Fatherhood
                          - Lessons Learned
                          - New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents
                          - Program Collaboration
                          - Program Collaboration
                          - Program Components
                          - Promising Practices
                          - References
                          - References
                          - Resources
                          - Resources
                          - Second Chances - Norfolk, VA Sheriff's Office

### Feature Articles 

                          - An Unlikely Partnership: Strengthening Families Touched by Incarceration
                          - Federal Bureau of Prisons's Daddy-Daughter Dance
                          - Guide for Incarcerated Parents Who Have Children in the Child Welfare System
                          - HHS and DOJ host listening session with youth who have an incarcerated parent
                          - Just Launched! Redesigned YE4C
                          - Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents Roll Call Training Video
                          - Strengthening Incarcerated Individuals and Their Families
                          - The National Institute of Corrections' Video Visiting Guide
                          - Youth Participatory Action Research with Children of Incarcerated Parents

### Resources 

                          - Report: Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and Partnering: Program Impacts Technical Report
                          - Report: Parental Incarceration and Children in Nonparental Care
                          - Resource: Attachment Behaviors in Children with Incarcerated Fathers
                          - Resource: Hidden Consequences: The Impact of Incarceration on Dependent Children
                          - Share with Youth: 2017-18 We R Native Youth Ambassadors

### Technical Assistance 

                          - National Reentry Resource Center
                          - National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
                          - National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues

### Tools & Guides 

                          - A Toolkit for Working With Children of Incarcerated Parents
                          - Children in Foster Care with Parents in Federal Prison:  A Toolkit for Child Welfare Agencies, Federal Prisons, and Residential Reentry Centers
                          - Children of Incarcerated Parents – Fact Sheet
                          - Children of Incarcerated Parents Framing Paper
                          - Children of Incarcerated Parents Myth Busters
                          - Effects of Parental Incarceration on Young Children
                          - Guide for Incarcerated Parents Who Have Children in the Child Welfare System
                          - Parental Incarceration and Child Wellbeing: An Annotated Bibliography
                          - Promising Practices Toolkit: Working with Drug Endangered Children and Their Families
                          - Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents: Trauma Prevention Policy
                          - Sesame Street Resources
                          - The Adoption and Safe Families Act: Barriers to Reunification between Children and Incarcerated Parents
                          - The Antisocial Behavior of the Adolescent Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Developmental Perspective
                          - Tip Sheet for Incarcerated Parents: Planning for a Visit from Your Child/Children
                          - Tip Sheet for Mentors: Supporting Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent
                          - Tip Sheet for Prison/Jail Staff and Volunteers: Supporting Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent
                          - Tip Sheet for Providers: Supporting Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent
                          - Tip Sheet for Teachers (Pre-K through 12): Supporting Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent
                          - Tip Sheet for Youth: Youth Supporting Fellow Youth Who Have an Incarcerated Parent
                          - Tips for Parents, Teachers, and Other Caregivers for Talking with Children Who Have Experienced Traumatic Events
                          - Video Visiting in Corrections: Benefits, Limitations, and Implementing Considerations
                          - When a Parent Is Incarcerated

### Videos & Podcasts 

                          - Video: Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents Training

### Webinars & Presentations 

                          - Children of Incarcerated Parents: Presentations

### Websites 

                          - Federal Bureau of Prisons
                          - National Institute of Corrections (NIC) - Children of Incarcerated Parents (CoIP) Project

### Youth Topics 

                          - Children of Incarcerated Parents
                          - Violence Prevention

How Individualized Education Program (IEP) Transition Planning Makes a Difference for Youth with Disabilities
Youth who receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) and especially young adults of transition age, should be involved in planning for life after high school as early as possible and no later than age 16. Transition services should stem from the individual youth’s needs and strengths, ensuring that planning takes into account his or her interests, preferences, and desires for the future.

Youth Transitioning to Adulthood: How Holding Early Leadership Positions Can Make a Difference
Research links early leadership with increased self-efficacy and suggests that leadership can help youth to develop decision making and interpersonal skills that support successes in the workforce and adulthood. In addition, young leaders tend to be more involved in their communities, and have lower dropout rates than their peers. Youth leaders also show considerable benefits for their communities, providing valuable insight into the needs and interests of young people

How Trained Service Professionals and Self-Advocacy Makes a Difference for Youth with Mental Health, Substance Abuse, or Co-occurring Issues
Statistics reflecting the number of youth suffering from mental health, substance abuse, and co-occurring disorders highlight the necessity for schools, families, support staff, and communities to work together to develop targeted, coordinated, and comprehensive transition plans for young people with a history of mental health needs and/or substance abuse.

Young Adults Formerly in Foster Care: Challenges and Solutions
Nearly 30,000 youth aged out of foster care in Fiscal Year 2009, which represents nine percent of the young people involved in the foster care system that year. This transition can be challenging for youth, especially youth who have grown up in the child welfare system.

Coordinating Systems to Support Transition Age Youth with Mental Health Needs
Research has demonstrated that as many as one in five children/youth have a diagnosable mental health disorder. Read about how coordination between public service agencies can improve treatment for these youth.

Civic Engagement Strategies for Transition Age Youth
Civic engagement has the potential to empower young adults, increase their self-determination, and give them the skills and self-confidence they need to enter the workforce. Read about one youth’s experience in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).

## Latest Resources

### Announcements

Youth Voices Have Moved to YE4C

Resource: Family-Based Justice Center

Resource: OJJDP Urges System Reform During Youth Justice Action Month (YJAM)

### Collaboration Profiles

References

Resources

Lessons Learned

### Feature Articles

Youth Participatory Action Research with Children of Incarcerated Parents

Just Launched! Redesigned YE4C

An Unlikely Partnership: Strengthening Families Touched by Incarceration

### Resources

Report: Parental Incarceration and Children in Nonparental Care

Resource: Attachment Behaviors in Children with Incarcerated Fathers

Report: Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and Partnering: Program Impacts Technical Report

### Youth Topics

Violence Prevention

Children of Incarcerated Parents