We all know that incarceration/over incarceration has left a muddy footprint on the US, but what you may not realize is how many children are silently suffering from the consequences of having a parent in jail or prison.
Children of incarcerated fathers face significant challenges emotionally, financially, and in staying connected with their families. It’s time to shine a light on this issue and take action to help these families heal and overcome the challenges they face. Collectively, let’s think about this issue with the whole of the family in mind, seeking to avoid punishment for children for their parents’ mistakes.
The numbers are staggering. There are almost 2.7 million children who have a mom or dad behind bars on any given day (Pew Research Center 2013), and over 5.2 million have experienced this at some point in their lives (Sentencing Project 2018). Statistically, these kids are more likely to struggle with their emotions, have a hard time in school, face difficult financial situations, and to find themselves involved with the Justice System (Sentencing Project 2018). It’s not fair, and we need to do something about it.
It is no secret that people of color are incarcerated at far higher rates than white people in the US. While people of color make up only about 37% of the US population they represent 67% of the prison population. Due to factors like biased enforcement practices, lack of legal resources, and structural racism, African Americans and Hispanic/Latinx individuals (particularly men) are more likely to be arrested, convicted, and incarcerated than similarly situated White counterparts. This makes the challenge of parenting from prison fall largely on the shoulders of parents of color (Sentencing Project 2018).
The Bureau of Justice released a report in 2020 in which they surveyed state prisoners. In this study they found that about half of all state prisoners were parents to a child under the age of 18. Also, about 33% of all state prison inmates have or have had an incarcerated parent, and of that group, 67% are now parenting from behind bars (Prison Policy Initiative 2022).
Incarcerated parents encounter numerous barriers that impede their ability to fulfill their parental responsibilities. One significant challenge revolves around child support payments. In the past 30 years, the child support debt in the US has increased 10 fold, from $11.3 billion, to $114.7 billion. 70% of this child support debt falls on individuals who make less than $10,000 per year, including a huge amount of individuals behind bars (National Institute of Justice). The impoverished conditions within prisons and limited employment opportunities make it nearly impossible for incarcerated parents to fulfill these significant financial obligations, which forces many parents to come out of prison with months and months of back pay owed for child support.
Yet another hurdle is the difficulty in maintaining meaningful family contact. Despite the importance of maintaining connections with their children, two-thirds of parents in prison with minor children have never received a visit from them (Prison Policy Initiative). Strict visitation policies, long distances between prisons and home communities, and financial constraints hinder the opportunity for in-person visits. A 2004 study found that almost 67% of incarcerated people are more than 100 miles away from their family. This makes visits increasingly difficult, and for a low income family, these long distance visits may be financially unrealistic.
Furthermore, 93% of incarcerated parents report that their child is in the care of the other parent (71%) or relative (22%), while the remaining 7% end up in the foster care system, living on their own, or staying with friends (Prison Policy Initiative). These separations further strain the parent-child relationship and make reunification challenging. In fact, 1 in 8 parents whose children go into foster care lost all parental rights to see their child. Meanwhile, almost half of kids in foster care will be involved in the justice system before the age of 17 (Chapin Hall Center for Youth).
We don’t claim to have the complete answers to all of these problems, but our programming does help address them in some ways.
Here at Fathers’ Uplift, we serve many children and parents affected by parental incarceration. We know how important dads are and do everything we can to help them in the midst of their incarceration and in their re-entry journey. About 60% of the men we serve have some history of incarceration.
Post-incarceration, we help dads 1) overcome internal barriers that may limit their relationships with their children, 2) build healthy relationships with agencies that can help them see their kids (Parole boards, DCF, etc.), 3) arrange to find quality and affordable housing (a nearly impossible task in Boston right now), and 4) even help dads negotiate and coordinate with the Department of Revenue to achieve realistic child support repayment targets. We wish we could help every family struggling with parental incarceration, but we know that we are making a real difference in the lives of all the families we are able to help.
We are also constantly working towards societal and policy change, providing guidance for policymakers and increasingly impacting the next generation of social workers and mental health professionals. A growing number of colleges in the nation are collaborating with Fathers’ UpLift to ensure their students of social work and psychology are equipped to serve men of color and individuals with histories of incarceration in a manner that properly serves and recognizes the full self and the needs of both individuals and families.
Fathers’ UpLift is incredibly proud of the work we do to support families affected by parental incarceration. We get to witness the positive impact of our efforts every day, but we also recognize that there is still so much more work to be done. If you share our deep concern for the negative effects of parental incarceration and want to make a difference, we invite you to discover how you can support our mission at Fathers’ UpLift and contribute to broader efforts to help rectify the situation. Together, we can create a brighter future for families stuck in this harmful cycle.
You can partner with us in supporting fathers attempting to engage their children during or post-incarceration through the “Donate” button at the top right. Sharing this article to help spread the word is also appreciated!
