Supporting Children of Incarcerated Parents

Abstract

Purpose and goals Parental incarceration is a shared sentence that deeply impacts children and can have lasting ramifications. In addition to the trauma of separation on children, families often experience financial hardships. Kentucky currently has the 11th highest rate of children who have had a parent incarcerated. Criminal justice policies and practices, such as over-policing in Black communities and disparities in the handling of offenses that intersect more with Black communities, have disproportionately impacted Black families across counties of all sizes in Kentucky, as Black parents are incarcerated at substantially higher rates than parents of other races.1,2 Kentucky Youth Advocates and the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation undertook this project to understand how jails currently interact with children and families impacted by incarceration and to learn about community interest in and capacity to increase the use of child-friendly practices.