CJA Blog
>
Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights (Part 2)
Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights (Part 2)
October 29, 2009
by CJA Admin
Our last entry highlighted the first four articles of the Children of Incarcerated Parent Bill of Rights. The following are the last four articles of the Bill of Rights excerpted from Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Bill of Rights.
I have the right to speak with, see and touch my parent. Visiting an incarcerated parent can be difficult and confusing for children. If the parent is in a county jail, the child may have to talk to him on a staticky telephone and look at him through scratched Plexiglas. If he is in prison, the child may have to travel a long distance to spend a few hours in a visiting room full of other prisoners and their families.
I have the right to support as I struggle with my parent’s incarceration. Children whose parents are imprisoned carry tremendous burdens. No only do they lose the company and care of a parent, they also must deal with the stigma of parental incarceration and fear for their parent’s safety and well-being. Researchers who have interviewed offenders’ children have found them prone to depression, anger and shame. Many young children experience a parent’s arrest as simple abandonment.
I have the right not to be judged, blamed or labeled because of my parent’s incarceration. Incarceration carries with it a tremendous stigma. Because young children identify with their parents, they are likely to internalize this stigma, associating themselves with the labels placed upon their parents and blaming themselves for their parents’ absence.
I have the right to a lifelong relationship with my parent. Separation is hard on families—but so, paradoxically, is reunion. Recently-released prisoners face an obstacle course of challenges and obligations. They must maintain a relationship with a parole or probation officer; find work and housing despite a criminal record; and struggle to rebuild relationships with friends and family.
In our next entry, we will look at how these rights can inform agency policies for supporting children going through the arrest and incarceration of a parent.