Working with Children of Incarcerated Parents
Special Populations in After School Programs
Dec 11, 2008
If your after school program is in a high poverty community, it is very likely that you are working with children of prisoners. According to a recent study by Pew's Public Safety Performance Project, entitled, One in One Hundred: Behind Bars in America 2008, [Pew Charitable Trusts, 2008] more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison. What this means for your program is that you are undoubtedly working with children who have been impacted by parental incarceration, whether you are aware of it or not.
Research is Available
With more than 2 million children experiencing parental incarceration, there is an ever-increasing body of research available on this topic.
One of the most comprehensive sources for working with children of prisoners is the Family and Corrections Network National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated. Visit them online at for a wide variety of resources including upcoming conferences, publications, directories and more.
According to Dr. Denise Johnston, in her book Children of Incarcerated Parents [Jossey-Bass, 1995], these vulnerable children have frequently been victims of what she calls, "enduring trauma." Dr. Johnston further states that there are a number of specific interventions that have been demonstrated to be effective for working with these children and their families. Services such as programs that provide mentors, support communication and visitation with the imprisoned parents, offer support groups for the children, and supportive services for the caregiver and provide reunification and therapeutic services to the parents have been shown to have a positive impact.
Programs such as those identified above can be offered in after school settings more easily than during the school day. The Family and Corrections Network site provides links and information about how to develop these types of programs, and also provides an extensive directory of programs that are already in existence.
Finding Resources for Programs for Children of Prisoners
The federal government has made serving children of incarcerated parents a higher priority than ever before during the past eight years. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has published an extensive online bibliography with a wide variety of resources for programs serving these children, youth and their families. ACF also supports a number of state and local efforts, to provide resources and funding. If you type children of incarcerated parents into your search engine you will find numerous additional resources to assist your efforts.
After school providers can play an important role in the lives of these children and their families. The resources provided at the websites listed above can help you improve your services and ensure that you are using research based, best practices in your program.
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