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            -           Tip Sheet for Teachers (Pre-K through 12): Supporting Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent      

# Tip Sheet for Teachers (Pre-K through 12): 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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School staff make a difference in the lives of all children, including children of incarcerated parents. For the child with a parent in prison, a safe and supportive school can provide a caring, stable setting offering opportunities for educational, social, and emotional development. The bonds and relationships fostered at school with peers and trusted adults play a vital role in the child’s short and long term learning and maturation.

## Five Things to Know About Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent

**1. Children with an incarcerated parents may be in your classroom.** 2.7 million (or 1 in 28) children currently have an incarcerated parent. More than 10 million children have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their childhoods. Given these numbers, there may be a child in your classroom or school who has an incarcerated parent.1 Women are a fast growing part of the correctional population (the number of incarcerated women increased at nearly 1.5 times the rate of men between 1980 and 2010).2 If your student’s mother has been incarcerated, there is an increased likelihood of instability in that student’s home and an increased chance that student may enter foster care or have to move to another caregiver’s home (such as a grandparent).3

**2. Having an incarcerated parent is recognized as an “adverse childhood experience” (ACE).** Exposure to multiple ACEs significantly increases the likelihood of long-term negative behavioral and physical health outcomes.4 Adding to the trauma, many of these children have witnessed their parent’s arrest. One study of parents arrested indicated that 67% were handcuffed in front of their children, 27% reported weapons drawn in front of their children, and 4.3% reported a physical struggle.5 Although it is not always the case, trauma often affects a child’s physiological and emotional responses; ability to think, learn, and concentrate; impulse control; self-image; and relationships with others.

**3. Children with a parent in prison may be subject to stereotypes and subconscious negative assumptions.** People sometimes assume children with an incarcerated parent will engage in criminal or negative activity like their parent. Be careful about making assumptions about behavior, motivation, academic ability, and potential. Research indicates that these assumptions, even when done subconsciously, can have detrimental impacts on educational outcomes.6 Children who have an incarcerated parent, like any students, have great potential to learn and succeed in school when teachers support them and establish high expectations for them.7

**4. Be sensitive to certain trigger issues.**When having conversations about current events, crime, criminals, or the police, be mindful of how children with a parent who has been arrested or incarcerated may feel. Children love their parents, even if a parent did something illegal. Be careful about making statements about parental involvement because Dad may not be there to sign permission slips, or Mom may not be there to help with homework. Across all school settings, pay particular attention to children of incarcerated parents being bullied by peers, and help ensure that they are not subjected to biases or stereotypes.6

**5. Be aware of what researchers call the “conspiracy of silence.”8** This conspiracy refers to the fact that many caregivers intentionally do not tell children that their parent is incarcerated, deciding instead to explain the absence by saying the parent is sick, away at work or college, or serving time in the military. For children who know their parent is incarcerated, their caregiver may have instructed them to not discuss the situation with anyone, for fear of the stigma and shame associated with incarceration. The child, too, may worry about people judging their parent. However, not understanding the situation or not being able to talk about it can also be a source of stress for children. Sometimes the silence around the situation can become an inadvertent cause of shame. It is important for teachers to understand this dynamic. If a teacher knows that a child has an incarcerated parent, the teacher should be careful not to discuss that information with the child unless confident the child has already been informed. If it appears the child understands the situation and would like to confide in someone, it is important for teachers to signal that they can be trusted, will not judge the parent or the child for loving their parent, and will keep the information the child chooses to disclose confidential.9

## How Can Teachers Contribute to Positive Outcomes for Children Who Have an Incarcerated Parent?

Teachers can **collaborate**with the child’s other parent, family member, or caregiver to create a positive school setting for children of incarcerated parents. Collaboration may include:
                      - Sharing relevant information with caregivers concerning successes and struggles, as well as emotional and behavioral concerns; and
                      - Becoming aware of community organizations and services available to meet the specialized needs of children with a parent in prison, especially mental health resources.

Teachers can **assist**children who have an incarcerated parent in reaching their potential and achieving academic and social success by:
                      - Implementing behavioral and academic supports that enhance the teaching-learning process;
                      - Engaging in classroom methods and approaches that help students with an incarcerated parent increase their capacities to self-regulate behaviors and develop their academic promise;
                      - Challenging students with a parent in prison to do their very best academically by providing support and establishing and promoting high expectations for them; and
                      - Identifying areas of vulnerability and understanding that negative behaviors and absenteeism may be masking anxiety and depression, which can result from childhood trauma.

Teachers can **advocate**for children with an incarcerated parent and educate their colleagues on ways to address the specific needs of students who have an incarcerated parent by :
                      - Establishing themselves as trusted and caring adults, serving as role models and challenging the stigma and shame that can be associated with parental incarceration;
                      - Working with other support/ancillary staff (i.e., art teacher, classroom aide, reading specialist, administrators) to provide one-on-one opportunities for students with a parent in prison to express feelings openly and freely through art, writing, or any other form of free expression. For example, the children could write a letter, draw a picture, or write a poem to share with their parent;
                      - Collaborating with school-based mental health professionals (i.e., school psychologists, counselors, or social workers) who understand the developmentally-sensitive implications of parental incarceration and family stress on child well-being; and
                      - Asking librarians to offer books/pamphlets about parental incarceration and encourage ALL students to read them, rather than singling out students with an incarcerated parent.

## Related Resources for Further Reading

Focus on the Children of Incarcerated Parents: An Overview of the Research Literature. Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2007.http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-FocusonChildrenwith_ncarceratedParentsOverviewofLiterature-2007.pdf (PDF, 44 pages)

Helping Traumatized Children Learn: Creating and Advocating for Trauma-Sensitive Schools. *Massachusetts Advocates for Children and Harvard Law School*, Vol. 1 and 2, 2013.http://traumasensitiveschools.org/

Parents Behind Bars: Children of Incarcerated Family Members: An Educator and Caregiver’s Toolkit to Idaho’s Criminal Justice System.https://icjc.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CIP.pdf (PDF, 42 pages)

Supporting Students with Incarcerated Parents. Rossen, Eric. Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators. National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (Also available in Spanish.)https://www.nctsn.org/resources/child-trauma-toolkit-educators 

Teachers Experiences with and Expectations of Children of Incarcerated Parents. *Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology*. Vol. 31, Issue 4, pp 281-290. 2010.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193397310000389

The Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights. The San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership. 2005.https://sfcipp.org/rights.html

Top 10 Things Every Teacher Should Know About Children of Incarcerated Parents. Project AVARY (Alternative Ventures for At Risk Youth).http://www.projectavary.org/resources/

## References

1 The Pew Charitable Trusts. (2010). *Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility*. Washington, DC: The Pew Charitable Trusts.2 Guerino, P., Harrison, P. M., & Sabol, W. (2011). Prisoners in 2010. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.3 Glaze, L., & Maruschak, L. (2008). Parents in prison and their minor children. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.4 Felitti, V. J., et al. (1998). Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults. *American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14*(4) , pp 245-258.5 Phillips, S. D. (1998). Programming for children of female offenders. Proceedings from 4th National Head Start Research Conference. Washington, DC. Criminology and Public Policy, 5, 677–702.6 Dallaire, D. H. (2010). Teachers’ experiences with and expectations of children with incarcerated parents. *Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31*(4) , pp 281-290.7 Hinnant, J. B., O’Brien, M., & Ghazarian, S. R. (2009). The longitudinal relations of teacher expectations to achievement in the early school years. *Journal of Educational Psychology, 101*(3), pp 662-670.8 Jose-Kampfner, C. (1995). Post-traumatic stress reactions in children of imprisoned mothers. In K. Gabel, & D. Johnston (Eds.) *Children of Incarcerated Parents* (pp 89-100). New York, NY: Lexington Books.9 Hairston, C.F. (2007). Focus on the children with incarcerated parents: A overview of the research literature. Annie E. Casey Foundation.

### 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