"The Ripple Effect of Parental Incarceration" by Karen Thew and April Terry
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Keywords

parental incarceration, children, health, school-to-prison pipeline, community-based, correctional facility-based

Abstract

Parental incarceration has the potential to drastically affect the social, behavioral, and physical lives of children. Such negative impacts include prenatal and chronic health conditions, behavioral and mental health issues, developmental delays, juvenile and criminal legal system involvement, and overall declines in well-being. These damaging outcomes occur for babies delivered during their mothers’ incarceration with negative lingering effects seen throughout the lifespan. Due to the stigmatization of incarceration, these children may experience bullying, engage in isolating behaviors, and struggle within the school, which may lead to the school-to-prison pipeline. While prevention and intervention services directed at these youth could not prevent their parent’s incarceration, some programs could help reduce and mediate the negative effects of parental incarceration and specifically, mothers’ incarceration. Such approaches should begin during an incarcerated woman’s pregnancy, continue throughout the birthing process, and include the use of initiatives such as prison nursery programs. Additionally, work could extend into community-based efforts seeking initiatives to help aid at-risk youth with an incarcerated mother (or father), such as family therapy options. This non-systematic literature review outlines some of the negative impacts paternal incarceration has on children—with a heightened focus on incarcerated women, their pregnancies, and their children— along with proactive and reactive suggestions to mediate the negative outcomes.

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