Working with incarcerated Parents/mothers
When parents, especially of the female gender are incarcerated, the whole family is affected. The adverse effects of incarcerated parents are mostly felt by children. For instance, parent incarceration can impact on the child’s social behavior, educational, prospects, and social behavior. The practical challenges of a disrupted family life and the emotional trauma that may occur can be made more complicated by the social stigma that a child faces due to the incarceration of his or her parent (Rasheed, Rasheed, & Marley, 2011). In this case, children may experience financial difficulties that arise from loss of the income of the parent. In addition, a number of incarcerated parents may face parental rights termination as children may take a longer time in the foster care system more than that allowed by law. Children need support from federal, state, and local systems in order to serve their need. Children may also face other challenging situations. For instance, they may have gone through trauma because of the arrest or their parents or because of experiences that led to the arrest. Such children are likely to have experienced other unpleasant experiences such as exposure to drugs and alcohol, witnessing violence in their households or in their communities (Harris, 2011). Parent incarceration, however, impacts not only on the individual and children, but on the entire family. The essay, therefore, discusses the on facts about incarcerated parents and how parent incarceration impacts on the individual and the family system as a whole. The paper also highlights the current interventions used with the individual and the family system, and its impacts on both.
It is unfortunate that only few resources exist to support families in dealing with the issue of incarceration. The individual and family members have to deal with the shame, anger, and confusion that come along with the absence of a parent. In the United States, the 2.7 million children who have their parents incarcerated share the same experiences. However, they do not frequently feel at ease speaking about them (Cohen, 2012). This is because their caregivers or parents do not know how to start a conversation and may sometimes discourage kids from speaking about it to adults or peers in their life including extended family and teachers. Children and the entire family are, therefore, emotionally and mentally affected by the incarceration of a parent.
Specifically, children have clear imaginations when faced with challenges of parent incarceration. When a parent is missing in the life of the child, the child goes through emotional disturbance. It is possible for the child to have the belief of being responsible for the life changes. Such children need the assurance that the changes that are happening, as well as, the disappearance of their children, is not their responsibility or fault. They need to be reassured of the love and care of caregivers or parents that are present or absent in their lives. There is a sophisticated array of emotions of children with incarcerated parents. For instance, they may feel disappointed and sad that their parent is missing. However, they may still feel very happy that they have a chance of making contacts with the parent. The adults who are in the life of children with incarcerated parents frequently feel uneasy to discuss the problems that the family is going through, and this can result to the child being confused on what is happening and view such experiences as something to be ashamed of. In this case, therefore, it is crucial to recognize that while children may not have negative feelings about the condition, his or her love for the parent does not dissipate simply because they have been arrested, and can have positive attitudes and feelings still, about their parents.
As an individual, the incarcerate person experiences a number of challenges as a result of incarceration. The individuals experience trauma as a result of incarceration. Prison can be a scary place even for the most hardened offenders. For instance, there are threats related to sexual abuse, fights, assaults, and other violence acts in prison settings. Violence, however, is not restricted only to the inmates as guards work in highly stressful environments, which can trigger their possibility of being violent (Loper & Tuerk, 2006). For instance, some incarcerated persons may bear threats of physical abuse, verbal abuse, and severe attacks from the guards because they fear to report them as no meaningful action will be taken. Inmates of the female gender are even at a higher risk of being assaulted sexually by prison and jail guards. This trauma can lead to depression, anxiety, and post traumatic disorders in inmates who did not have any critical mental health problems.
In most cases, inmates are cut off from the outside world or the rest of society. This means that the access to supportive family and friends may be limited, except for special cases as allowed by law. Most prisons and jails have mail policies mail policies that prohibit magazine and letter subscriptions (Loper & Tuerk, 2006). These policies may eliminate the ability of those incarcerated to receive support and communicate with friends and families. In addition, phone calls from jail can be expensive, and inmates from poor backgrounds may have friends and families who may not afford the costs of collecting calls (Blumberg & Griffin, 2013). In this case, there is only little hope of getting support in jail since many inmates are more concerned with avoiding fights and gaining respect in a persistent search for safety. Support from family, friends, and other loved ones can contribute significantly in assisting people conquer mental problems. Isolation, on the other hand can increase the risk of a person of having mental health issues including anxiety and depression.
Inmates are denied primary privacy rights. In this case, they lose control over everyday aspects of their lives that many people may take for granted. Inmates live in extremely deteriorating and cramped areas, and do not have control even over the identities of individuals that they share rooms with. They do not have control over what they eat and what time to sleep. Some prisoners feel that the degraded environments that they are forced to live in act as a reminder of the stigmatized role as inmates and their compromised social status (Rasheed, Rasheed, & Marley, 2011). A degraded personal value and sense of self-worth may arise. In other cases, inmates tend to internalize the symbolic meaning of the substandard circumstances and treatment they receive while in prison. Stigma then fills the minds of the inmates.
A majority of inmates ignore the primary societal rules. In this case, it may be difficult for inmate issues of rights to attain much sympathy from the public. Many inmates, however, are arrested for nonviolent drug offences that are a consequence of substance addiction. Even those who are incarcerated for violent offences do not serve life sentences. A majority of inmates are eventually released (Blumberg & Griffin, 2013). The mental health problems that they develop in jail may increase the risk of committing crimes again. This makes it difficult for them to reenter society as nonthreatening and productive citizens. Most of those who have been imprisoned are arrested again in three years after being released, a condition known as recidivism (Laakso & Nygaard, 2012).
It is important to note that contact between children and incarcerated parents is exceptionally vital. Although a parent may be incarcerated, a positive impact on his or her children can still be experienced. At-home caregivers should support the contact between the incarcerated parent and the child through the use of letters, phone calls, and visits (Carlson & Shafer, 2010). It is also important, however, to note that that the imprisoned parent may not always respond positively. Most of the caregivers are grandparents or relatives who take care of a child of incarcerated parent. The role of the caregiver is at time invaluable as it takes a number of individuals to support the child financially and emotionally in such difficult times. In other cases, children are switched from one caregiver to another and this may present difficulties for the children in trying to adjust to the new situations (Carlson & Shafer, 2010).
There are a number of programs and interventions that are put in place in order to deal with the issue of parent incarceration. One of such programs is the Incarcerated Mother’s Program abbreviated as IMP. This is a particularly designed program that deals with the special needs of mothers who are parenting their kids from prisons (Cohen, 2012). The IMP works to reinforce families through lessening the gap between women in prison, their kids and caregivers through understanding the need for connection between the child and the mother. The program ensures that children stay in close contact with their parents (mothers). The protection, well being, and safety of children are the program’s greatest focus and concern. The key objective is to avoid foster care placement through giving women and their children support in the process of arrest and even after arrest, in court, jail, and when they go back to the society. IMP has introduced initiatives such as the expansion of parenting groups that are based in prisons to serve fathers (Harris, 2011). The program takes into consideration that kids benefit most when both parents are present or are actively involved in their lives. The program ensures that parents can communicate with their kids even from prison, and this gives a lot of encouragement to children.
There are other programs committed to give support to children with incarcerated parents and help them deal with the challenging experiences. These initiatives provide resources to comfort and support children and guides caregivers and parents on how to talk about incarceration and highlight the significance of communication between caregivers and children. The initiatives are specially developed for families that deal with incarceration challenges. The struggles of people dealing with challenges of incarceration are things that people across the globe should comprehend better (Blumberg & Griffin, 2013). Specifically, caregivers and parents face financial difficulties especially if the incarcerated parent was the bread winner in the family. Dealing with financial issues is a challenge that leads to other adverse life challenges for the entire family. As stated, anger and shame are among the things that accompany incarceration. For this reason, families with incarcerated parents are afraid of the ridicule that may come from members of society. This, in turn, leads to psychological and emotional disturbances that may have negative effects on members of the family.
References
Cohen, K. S. (2012). Child and family practice: A relational perspective.
Kilpatrick, A. C., & Holland, T. P. (2009). Working with families: An integrative model by level of need. Boston: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson.
Rasheed, J. M., Rasheed, M. N., & Marley, J. A. (2011). Family therapy: Models and techniques. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
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