Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/strengthening-families-in-special-environments/5016638/
With the increase of drug use, more young children in our programs are coping with parental incarceration. Teachers say they see an increase of challenging behaviors and low motivation towards learning due to parental loss. Young children grieving their losses struggle in social groups, often acting out their anger and frustration upon peers or caregivers. Their sense of well being is shattered, as is their sense of self worth. If both parents face incarceration, the loss increases. Often children must live with aging grandparents, relatives, or foster families.The statistics are compelling: 60 percent of children with imprisoned parents are younger than eight. Children of prisoners are six times more likely to be incarcerated at some point in their lives. There is growing recognition, locally and nationally, of the need to foster positive and more frequent communication between incarcerated parents and their children to strengthen families and break the cycle of incarceration.
The Urban Institute in Washington, DC reported that children, feeling the void of an imprisoned parent or family member, often succumb to developmental problems (2003). By age 2, children who have been left behind as infants become completely dependent on substitute caregivers and rarely ever bond with their ...