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Home > Events > Conferences > Past Sessions > Parenting Behind Bars |
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Parenting Behind Bars:
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Bonnie Garcia de Camarda, member of MCC's Board of Directors, welcomed everyone to the session and stressed MCC's commitment to serving people from a wide range of backgrounds. She then introduced Naima Black, Program Manager for Inmate Family Services at the Pennsylvania Prison Society, and Moderator for the day.
Family Perspectives on Prisoner Reentry
Jeremy Travis, The Urban Institute.
Jeremy Travis, the first speaker, and a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute, presented "Family Perspectives on Prison Reentry." Jeremy began by discussing major trends in incarceration and reentry. Over the past 25 years, more people have been incarcerated, and as a result increasing numbers of people are also being released into society. Most of those incarcerated are men of color, and most have substance and/or alcohol abuse problems and a high incidence of chronic disease. Employment and housing are struggles for these men and women before and after they are incarcerated.
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Many incarcerated people also have children, a factor often overlooked by politicians and policy makers. Over 1.5 million children in the United States have a parent in prison, and 7.3 million children have a parent in prison or jail, or on probation or parole. African Americans are disproportionately affected by incarceration in America - 7% of black children have a parent in prison, compared to .08% of white children. With so many children affected, it is important to discuss how families can maintain connections when a parent is incarcerated. Studies have shown that maintaining family ties can improve children's behavior, shape positive outcomes for children, and reduce recidivism rates among returning prisoners.
Considering the impact of incarceration at the community level leads to important findings Incarceration acutely affects communities of racial and ethnic minorities and low-income communities. On some blocks in Brooklyn 1 in 8 parenting-age males will be admitted to prison in a single year. On such a single block, up to $3 million dollars a year will be spent to incarcerate the young men who live on that block. With such serious implications for communities across the country, issues of reentry and incarceration and where and how money is spent need to be seriously examined on a local level.
Parenting Behind the Walls: Issues, Barriers, and Resolutions
Phyllis Swint, Family Therapy Treatment Program PHMC.
Following Jeremy, Phyllis Swint, Program Director for Philadelphia Health Management Corporation's Family Therapy Treatment Program, gave her presentation titled "Parenting Behind the Walls: Issues, Barriers, and Resolutions." Phyllis began by reminding the audience that incarceration is a family experience. The whole family rallies to survive the void of having lost a loved one to incarceration. Grandparents raise children, and children sacrifice their childhoods to help their families. The major challenge for the incarcerated parent is to find how she or he is best able to contribute to the family as a parent from behind bars. Other major issues that incarcerated parents face include: shame and guilt, balancing their own needs, negotiating a successful reentry into society, and learning how to co-parent when someone else has day-to-day authority.
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Each family member affected by incarceration faces his or her own unique challenges. For incarcerated fathers, society does not discuss how they, or men in general, can have a successful relationship with their children - society focuses on how men need to "take care" of their children as financial providers. Children are often burdened as "keepers of family secrets," and experience shame and secrecy around their parent's incarceration. They will do anything they can to support their families, and they have to address issues of separation and legacy fears. Non-parental caretakers become attached to the children and reentry may signal a significant loss for them.
How do we resolve these serious challenges for families? We should encourage parents to have open and honest communication with their children while they are incarcerated, validate their ability to co-parent from behind bars, and encourage multi-system contact with these families. All of us need to work together to keep the family connected and to empower the incarcerated parent.
A Parent's Perspective
Reuben Jones, Director of Frontline Dads.
Reuben Jones, Director of Frontline Dads, a Philadelphia-based organization dedicated to supporting young men in their quest to be good dads, spoke next on his personal experiences as an incarcerated parent. In 1986, Reuben was sent to prison for 15 years. For the first nine years he was incarcerated, he had no contact with his infant son. In 1996, he successfully petitioned from prison for partial custody and visitation. While in prison, Reuben participated in a program called "Long-Distance Dads," which supported him in his parenting skills. He later founded Frontline Dads, an organization dedicated to involving men in rebuilding their families and providing resources and support to at-risk youth. Reuben is currently working on establishing family resource rooms in prisons (separate from the general visiting area), and on providing educational and lifestyle mentoring and resources to incarcerated fathers. He expressed his gratitude to the Pennsylvania Prison Society and all the other agencies working for change.
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Children of Prisoners: Promising Approaches and Collaborations
Arlene Lee, Federal Resource Center for Children of Prisoners.
Arlene Lee, Director of the Federal Resource Center for Children of Prisoners, gave the final presentation titled "Children of Prisoners: Promising Approaches and Collaborations." She read from the Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights, which included children's right to be considered when decisions are made about their parent and their right to a lifelong relationship with their parent. By encouraging family-friendly policies, supporting the parent-child relationship, and reducing stigma, Arlene suggested we can help the children of prisoners have a more healthy childhood. Wrap-around case management is key, as are parenting programs that are specific to the developmental needs of the child. Especially important is giving parents the opportunity to have supervised parent practicing with feedback.
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Arlene discussed a number of different promising programs across the country that successfully integrate the needs of entire families. She emphasized the success of prison nurseries - studies have shown that raising children in prison settings is not as damaging as taking children away from their parents. She also discussed model programs such as Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, Wrap Around Milwaukee, and Project SEEK, all of which facilitate communication and support for children, parents, and caretakers alike. She reminded the audience again that we need a multi-systemic approach to family support when a parent is incarcerated
Arlene's presentation was followed by a question and answer session, where audience members asked questions on a wide range of topics including the credibility incarcerated parents have with their children, data collection-evaluation of work being done with families affected by incarceration, and the political implications of high rates of incarceration in the U.S.
JoAnne Fischer, Executive Director of Maternity Care Coalition, closed the session by thanking the panelists, sponsors, and audience members. She pointed out that providers and researchers still have much work to do on these issues, and she especially thanked the MOMobile Advocates who have pushed for years to have a conference on this important topic.
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