No Child Left Behind: 5M Americans Grow Up With Parent in Prison



Susanne.Posel-Headline.News.Official- casey.foundation.black.hispanic.children.parent.prison.jail_occupycorporatismSusanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Brands

 

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released a report called “A Shared Sentence” which highlights the financial and emotional burden children go through when one of their parents is incarcerated. The problem is, 5.1 million children have at least one parent who is serving time in prison.

casey.foundation.black.hispanic.children.parent.prison.jail.02_occupycorporatismThis report emphatically states: “Incarceration breaks up families, the building blocks of our communities and nation. It creates an unstable environment for kids that can have lasting effects on their development and well-being.”

It means that children are more likely to grow up with friends of the family, other relatives or even in foster care. But it also means that these children are prone to dropping out of school prior to graduation.

Considering that the number of children with fathers in jail or prison rose by 500% over the Reagan/Bush/Clinton era of tough on crime law-making, it is even more tragic that mothers incarcerated has become a thing.

From 1991 to 2007, “the number of children with mothers behind bars more than doubled” which is “4 times the rate of growth in the number of kids with incarcerated fathers during the same time span.”

In order to fix this mess, the Foundation recommends:

1. Mental health counseling for children
2. Judges consider preserving relationship between parent and child
3. Early education, schools, child welfare and faith-based groups offer programs for emotional and mental well-being
4. Lawmakers facilitate access for caregivers to financial, legal, childcare, health and housing assistance
5. Help providing familial stability upon parent’s release
6. Vocational training
7. abatement of child support orders so parents don’t accrue crippling debt while incarcerated
8. Enactment of “Ban-the-box” policies
9. Repeal limits on access to public assistance programs for certain offenders
10. Incentives for housing authorities or landlords to lift restrictions on people with criminal records
11. Investment in public/private ventures that create employment

casey.foundation.black.hispanic.children.parent.prison.jail.01_occupycorporatismLatino and African American children are hit the hardest; with Hispanic kids being 5 times more likely and black children being twice as likely (when compared to their Caucasian counterparts) to “suffer the destabilizing effects of losing a parent to the system.”

For example 88,000 children in Wisconsin face this problem which is no surprise considering the racial disparities are the status quo.

Ken Taylor, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF) commented: “It is all too easy to overlook the economic and psychological impact on a child when a parent is sent to jail or prison. Although disparities occur in all states, Wisconsin faces a deeper challenge that we must address — we incarcerate a larger share of black males than any other state. This adds to a cycle of poverty and inequity for our children of color that places them at greater disadvantage.”

In addition, the mass incarceration issue shows itself depending on what state you live in. For parents in New Jersey, only 3% are behind bars, but in Kentucky that number jumps up to 13%.

According to the report: “While momentum for criminal justice reform continues to build, we know progress will take time, but we also know children can’t wait — nor can we as a nation afford to let them and their parents founder, perpetuating poverty from one generation to the next.”

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