Brief
This brief describes the Responsible Fatherhood, Marriage, and Family Strengthening Grants for Incarcerated and Re-Entering Fathers and their Partners (MFS-IP) and provides an overview of the implementation and impact evaluation of this initiative. (Author abstract)
This chapter discusses the adverse effects of parental incarceration on children and the types of stressors children experience because of their parent’s arrest and imprisonment. The chapter concludes by identifying some protective factors that may promote resilience in children with an imprisoned parent. (Author abstract)
NRFC Quick Statistics and Research Reviews, Brief
This fact sheet provides statistics from various years on incarcerated parents including estimated number of state and federal prisoners with minor children, by gender; percent of state and federal male prisoners with minor children; minor children with a parent in prison by race/ethnicity; and living arrangements for children with parents in state prisons. Also provided are statistics on frequency of contact (phone, mails, personal visits) with children for parents in state prisons; frequency of telephone, mail, and personal contacts with children for parents in state prisons; age…
Many of the 650,000 adults released from American prisons each year find their way to One-Stops or community-based, faith-based and other organizations that provide employment services. Yet relatively few of these organizations specifically target former prisoners. Workforce development practitioners have experience with a wide range of job seekers, but a great number of them are looking for additional guidance about the complexities of connecting formerly incarcerated people to the labor market and helping them stay on the job.Going to Work with a Criminal Record was developed to help meet…
This report focuses on the issues faced by children when their parents are incarcerated, and strategies that agencies can implement in Washington State to support children and families impacted by incarceration. It begins by reviewing legislation passed by Washington State that led to the establishment of the Children and Families of Incarcerated Parents (CFIP) Advisory Committee to oversee the implementation of an oversight committee report that recommended several changes to policies and services, develop additional recommendations for the legislature, and bring agencies together with…
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Journal Article The authors examine the consequences of incarceration for nonresident White, Latino, and African American fathers' contact with children and their formal and informal child support agreements. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, they found that fathers' current incarceration presented serious obstacles to maintaining contact with children and interfered with the establishment of informal financial support agreements with mothers. Recent and past incarceration were strongly and negatively associated with how often non-Latino White fathers saw their children but…
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Journal Article Incarcerated parents with children in foster care face many challenges staying connected. It can be difficult to access services, set up visits and reunite after release. Parents with sentences longer than 15 months are at risk of permanently losing their rights to their children. In this issue, parents in prison write about their efforts to stay connected to their children in foster care despite their incarceration and to reunify after release. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted with six adolescent fathers of Mexican origin on juvenile probation for a variety of serious offenses. All participants successfully completed a parenting program designed especially for teen fathers. In a series of consecutive in-depth interviews, teen fathers were asked to discuss their experiences as fathers. Four phenomena were identified from the data: (a) not giving up and deciding to be a dad, (b) figuring out my relationships after becoming a father, (c) wanting to be a good father, and (d) wanting to be Brown and a father. Findings…
Presents data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities about inmates who were parents and their minor children. This report compares estimates of the number of incarcerated parents and their children under the age of 18, by gender, age, race, and Hispanic origin in state and federal prisons in 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, and 2007. It presents the total number of children who were minors at some time during their parent's incarceration. The report describes selected background characteristics of parents in prisons, including marital status, citizenship,…
Brief
"What works" in programs serving incarcerated fathers and fathers involved in the criminal justice system? Between 1991 and 1999, the percentage of children with an incarcerated father increased by 58 percent, and it was estimated that 721,500 state and federal prisoners, 93 percent of whom were male, had fathered at least one child under the age of 18. When a father is incarcerated, there are repercussions not only for himself, but also for his spouse or partner, and most importantly for his children. With rising rates of incarceration, there has been an increased interest in developing…
