This discussion guide is designed for corrections staff and volunteers

who interact with children and young people during child-parent visits.

The video and discussion guide can be used to supplement professional

development trainings or as part of organizational capacity-building.

Expanding skills and awareness around trauma-informed approaches

during child-parent visits creates conditions that promote safety,

healing, and growth and can prevent further re-traumatization.

WHO CAN USE THIS GUIDE?

Using guiding principles to inform

daily practice can help to ensure

a trauma-informed approach is

used during child-parent visits.

These principles should reflect an

understanding of the effects of

stress and trauma and what is

needed to support healing and

foster resilience for everyone at

the facility.

These principles include:

Trauma Awareness &

Understanding

Safety

Youth and Family Voice,

Choice, & Empowerment

Cultural Humility &

Responsiveness

Trustworthiness &

Transparency

Collaboration & Power

Sharing

Peer Support

Recovery, Resilience, &

Growth

To find out more about a traumainformed approach and the

supporting principles, visit

SAMHSA.gov.

DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR

CORRECTIONS STAFF

Video: Creating Conditions that Promote

Safety, Healing, and Growth in ChildParent Visits

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

This guide was created by the American Institutes for Research

(AIR) for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice

and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for youth.gov. Points of view

or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not

necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S.

Department of Justice.

Funding info: Contract number: HHSP233201500032I YOUTH.GOV/CIP

This guide was developed to accompany the video, Creating Conditions

that Promote Safety, Healing, and Growth in Child-Parent Visits, to

increase the knowledge and understanding of how integrating key

concepts like safety, collaboration, and transparency into policies,

procedures, and practices can benefit child-parent visits. To extend this

learning opportunity, we have developed a list of questions to foster

conversations to increase understanding and skill-building. This

discussion guide and video extend learnings from previous work on

supporting Children of Incarcerated Parents.

Content for the video was informed through close collaboration with

the Virginia Department of Corrections and conversations with the

Oregon Department of Corrections and The Council of State

Governments Justice Center.
Consider ways to make the areas visitors will be in more welcoming and

friendly for children. This can include adding decorations or making physical

changes to the facility, as well as providing child-friendly activities or books in

the waiting area, child-sized seating, and child-friendly posters, information,

and signs where young people will be.

Prepare staff with script ideas and discussions about ways they can set a

welcoming tone for children and caregivers, focusing on relationship-building,

not dictating behavior. Staff should also be ready for a range of emotions from

parents, children, and caregivers, and think about the support they can offer.

Staff can also help parents prepare logistically by co-planning a list of topics

to cover with caregivers and children in advance of the visit. For example,

depending on the age of the child, they may be confused about certain rules,

like no hugs, or why a guard is present.

Recognize the role of

trauma-informed practices

and strategies to help

corrections staff better

serve the needs of

children with incarcerated

parents.

Find guidance for facilities

to incorporate traumainformed practices to help

parents, caregivers, and

children throughout visits.

Identify appropriate

practices and strategies to

incorporate these traumainformed policies and

practices in the

preparation,

implementation, and

follow-up for a visit.

Explore changes that staff

can make to advocate for

and support the

implementation of traumainformed practices at their

own facilities.

With awareness and understanding of trauma and its

impact, corrections facilities can work to integrate

visitation practices that foster safety and connection

for children visiting their parents and, when possible,

create an environment where healing and resiliencebuilding is supported. Consider how you might

implement learnings and reflect on the core guiding

principles of a trauma-informed approach to explore

further to foster resilience for everyone at a facility.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

BEFORE THE VISIT

Emotions can run high during a visit, and difficult topics can often come up. As

much as possible, give family members the privacy they need to connect and

talk about their emotions and hard topics.

If permissible, allow for as much contact as possible between child and parent,

as this can be a way to ease the stress of the visit and is an important way for

children — especially younger ones — to feel connected with their parents.

If a child breaks a rule, allow the parent or caregiver to correct the behavior

first. If staff need to step in, use a calm voice, age-appropriate language, and

friendly demeanor to help the child understand the rule.

DURING THE VISIT

If visitors are required to undergo any security procedures upon leaving, make

sure to explain these to the child in a calm, easy to understand manner.

Remind them of the process they went through to enter and explain how

these parts are connected. This can help younger children internalize the

process for their next visit.

Make sure caregivers have any information or materials they need for the

next visit, such as a calendar, information about schedule changes, or any

other policies. If there were support staff working with the family during the

visit, provide the information they need to access any follow-up services,

programming, or other topics that were discussed.

If you know the child and caregiver will return for another visit, it can be

helpful to let the child know you and their parent are looking forward to their

next visit or let the child know how much you appreciated their visit.

AFTER THE VISIT

YOUTH.GOV/CIP
Decide who will facilitate the conversation using these discussion questions.

Determine which staff members will be part of this conversation. Ideally, your

facility will share this information with all staff, but your discussion sessions may

look different depending on who is present. Do you want corrections staff and

support staff to view together? Management and staff? Volunteers or other

outside supports? Deciding who will be present can help facilitators plan best

practices and the most useful topics of focus.

Ideally, the chosen facilitator should review the discussion prompts and video

ahead of time and consider which pieces they might highlight to meet setting

and audience needs.

Plan for participants to watch the whole video session (approx. 20 minutes).

Allow about 30 minutes for participants to review this guide and discuss the

prompts below. If the group is larger than 10 people, consider breaking into

smaller groups.

Break into three groups —

representing before, during.

and after a visit — and discuss

how you might support these

stages of a visit at your facility.

Consider where you may

already be integrating traumainformed practices and where

there are opportunities to build

in more, including changes you

would like to see implemented

at your facility.

Come back together and

discuss each group’s

suggestions for future

practices.

The questions in this discussion guide can be

reviewed and discussed as a large group, or staff can

be organized into smaller groups. In smaller groups,

each one could take a different question to discuss

then share their conversation with the larger group

to promote peer-to-peer learning.

ACTIVITY

PLANNING TIPS

Identify two or more facts about children with incarcerated parents you learned

through viewing this video. Did any of them surprise you? Were any particularly

meaningful to you? Did any change your outlook about your role as a corrections

staff member?

1.

Considering the examples given in the video and above, where do you see your childparent visit practices already aligned with a trauma-informed approach? Which

would you like to see your facility focus on in the future?

2.

Reflecting on the tips provided in this guide and the examples given in the video,

what are ways you already help families manage feelings and feel safe during childparent visits? What are some new ideas you can try?

3.

What are some challenges for parents and staff before, during, and after a visit? How

can the facility support collaboration to address these challenges?

4.

What larger policies or procedures might need to be modified, changed, or added to

support a trauma-informed approach to child-parent visits?

5.

DISCUSSION PROMPTS

Strengthening and Maintaining Family Connections: Best Practices for Child-Friendly

Video Visiting:

Publication: csgjusticecenter.org/publications/strengthening-and-maintaining-familyconnections-best-practices-for-child-friendly-video-visiting/

Webinar: nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/events/strengthening-and-maintainingfamily-connections-best-practices-child-friendly-video

Model Practices for Parents in Prisons and Jails: Reducing Barriers to Family Connections:

nicic.gov/resources/nic-library/all-library-items/model-practices-parents-prisons-and-jailsreducing-barriers

Parent-Child Visiting Practices in Prisons and Jails: urban.org/research/publication/parentchild-visiting-practices-prisons-and-jails

RESOURCES

YOUTH.GOV/CIP