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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
A Toolkit for Working With Children of Incarcerated Parents
Created jointly by the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) within the State of Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), Health and Recovery Services Administration and DSHS' Office of Planning, Performance and Accountability, and featured on the Children's Bureau website, this web-based training toolkit provides practitioners with the skills required to respond to the needs of children of parents who are in prison or have an incarceration history.
Children in Foster Care with Parents in Federal Prison: A Toolkit for Child Welfare Agencies, Federal Prisons, and Residential Reentry Centers
Roughly 10% of incarcerated mothers in state prison have a child in a foster home or other state care. Some estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 8 children who are subjects of reports of maltreatment and investigated by child welfare agencies have parents who were recently arrested. Though there is clearly overlap between the prison system and the child welfare system, it is often difficult for prison officials to know how to help incarcerated parents stay in touch with their children in foster care and work towards reunification. Similarly, it is difficult for child welfare agencies to know how to engage parents in prison. The purpose of this toolkit is to help facilitate communication and cooperation between child welfare agencies and federal prisons so that parents can stay engaged in their children's lives.
Children of Incarcerated Parents – Fact Sheet
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2007, an estimated 1.7 million children under the age of 18 had a parent in prison, an increase of almost 80 percent since 1991. The negative consequences for children with an incarcerated parent can be substantial, including financial instability, changes in family structure, shame, and social stigma. However, research also shows that supporting healthy and positive relationships between these vulnerable children, who are the innocent bystanders of adult decisions, and their families has the potential to mitigate negative outcomes.
An interagency group, that includes the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Agriculture as well as the Social Security Administration, has partnered with stakeholders both inside and outside of government to identify opportunities to support these children and their caregivers. This fact sheet describes the efforts of the interagency group.
Effects of Parental Incarceration on Young Children
As part of their project, From Prison to Home: The Effects of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families and Communities, The Department of Health and Human Services funded a comprehensive brief, Effects of Parental Incarceration on Young Children that addresses the reactions of chldren with incarcerated parents, as well as: ways of modifying those effects, programs that can help both the parent and the child, how to adopt a whole family approach and why this discussion should inform research and policy issues.
Different topics are accessible through the table of contents here:
- Scope of the Problem
- The Impact of Incarceration on Children
- Short-term Effects
- Long-term Effects
- Modifiers of Children’s Reactions to Incarceration
- Programs for Incarcerated Parents
- Beyond the Incarcerated Parent: The Family Unit as a Target of Intervention
- Visitation Programs
- Co-detention: Raising Children in Prison
- Alternatives to Incarceration
- Programs for Children of Incarcerated Parents
- Parental Re-entry: The Implication for Children
- Problems Associated with Intervention and Evaluation Efforts
- Theoretical Perspectives to Guide Research and Policy
- Research and Policy Issues: A Look Ahead
National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues
National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues provides consultation, training, and technical assistance on all legal and judicial aspects of the child welfare system, including federal law, court improvement, agency and court collaboration, permanency planning, legal representation, and other emerging child welfare issues. The Resource Center, funded by the Children’s Bureau, is comprised of the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, the National Center for State Courts, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
The National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections at the Hunter College School of Social Work is a training, technical assistance, and information services organization dedicated to help strengthen the capacity of State, local, Tribal and other publicly administered or supported child welfare agencies in order to: institutionalize a safety-focused, family-centered, and community-based approach to meet the needs of children, youth and families. NRCPFC is a service of the Children's Bureau at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The NRCPFC is committed to providing T/TA & Information Services that are:
- Proactive
- Integrated
- Culturally Competent
- Collaborative
- Individualized
- Strength-based
- Family-centered practice
- Community-based practice
- Evidence-Based & Evidence-informed
The Adoption and Safe Families Act: Barriers to Reunification between Children and Incarcerated Parents
This information packet, developed by the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections and featured on the Children's Bureau website, addresses how certain provisions of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) create barriers to reunification for incarcerated mothers. The packet also includes information about amendments that some states have made to ASFA to address these issues, best practice tips for working with children of incarcerated parents, and other related resources
The Antisocial Behavior of the Adolescent Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Developmental Perspective
The Antisocial Behavior of the Adolescent Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Developmental Perspective, funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, discusses the link between parent incarceration and antisocial behavior in adolescents, how it develops overtime, why this issue is important to address, and how to address it.
Different sections are accessible through the table of contents here:
- The Significance of Antisocial Behavior during Adolescence
- Linking Parent Criminality and Adolescent Antisocial Behavior
- A Life Course Model of Antisocial Behavior
- Prison, Parenting, and Change
- Interventions that May Make a Difference in the Lives of the Adolescent Children of Incarcerated Parents
- Discussion
- References
Tips for Parents, Teachers, and Other Caregivers for Talking with Children Who Have Experienced Traumatic Events
This presentation, developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, discusses typical responses that children and youth of specific ages may display after experiencing a traumatic event, as well as how parents, caregivers, and teachers can support recovery for young people of all ages.
When a Parent Is Incarcerated
Developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and featured on the Children's Bureau's website, this guide provides information to public child welfare agencies and caseworkers on working with incarcerated parents and their children. Goals of the primer include familiarizing child welfare professionals with the impact of incarceration and providing information to child welfare and correctional systems to help improve permanency outcomes for children.
Report: Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and Partnering: Program Impacts Technical Report
This report presents findings on the impact of family strengthening services in four prison-based programs from the Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and Partnering and discusses the implications for policy, programs, and future research.
Resource: Attachment Behaviors in Children with Incarcerated Fathers
This podcast, created by the Institute for Research on Poverty, describes a new study on attachment in children who have an incarcerated father and discusses some of the factors that may lead to differences in children’s attachment behaviors.
Report: Parental Incarceration and Children in Nonparental Care
This brief compares children in nonparental care as a result of parental incarceration with those who experienced parental incarceration but not as a reason for nonparental care, and those with no experience of parental incarceration.
Supporting Families Impacted by Incarceration — A Dialogue with Experts
This report, developed by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Technical Assistance and Strategic Dissemination Center, is the outcome of a meeting that convened national child welfare experts on families impacted by incarceration. It features key issues around this topic for practitioners and identifies needed resources and tools to support the workforce and families, along with a practical framework of intervention points from arrest to release.
Administration for Children and Families/Family and Youth Services Bureau Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs
Eligibility: Youth aged 16 to 22 who are unable to return to their homes
Focus: Life skills training
Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs that serve transition-age youth include the Transitional Living Program and the Maternity Group Homes Program.
The Transitional Living Program for Older Homeless Youth promotes the independence of youth between 16 and 22 years old who are unable to return to their homes. Grantees provide housing and a range of services, including life skills training, financial literacy instruction, and education and employment services. Youth might live in group homes or in their own apartments, depending on the program and each young person's independent living skills.
The Maternity Group Homes Program, part of the Transitional Living Program, supports homeless pregnant and/or parenting young people between the ages of 16 and 22, as well as their dependent children. Services are provided for up to 21 months.
Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
The Center works with HUD field and program offices to offer over 40 organizational capacity building workshops annually around the country. These one- and two-day trainings are designed for smaller grassroots non-profits seeking to strengthen their effectiveness by covering topics like organizational development, strategic planning, financial management, logic models, and the science of finding and applying for grants.
Choice Neighborhoods
The Choice Neighborhoods initiative will transform distressed neighborhoods and public and assisted projects into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods by linking housing improvements with appropriate services, schools, public assets, transportation, and access to jobs. A strong emphasis will be placed on local community planning for access to high-quality educational opportunities, including early childhood education. In addition to public housing authorities, the initiative will involve local governments, non-profits, and for-profit developers in undertaking comprehensive local planning with residents and the community.
Ending Housing Discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals and Families
This HUD website maintains a list of states that enumerate sexual orientation and gender identity in their state fair housing laws. It also provides information and resources to report housing discrimination.
Family Unification Program
Eligibility: Youth aged 18-21 who have aged out of foster care
Focus: Housing
The Family Unification Program provides Housing Choice Vouchers to communities to help assist in the transition of youth out of foster care. The Public Housing Authority administers the vouchers and the child welfare agency provides supportive services to youth. Vouchers are used to provide rental assistance to youth aged 18 to 21 who transition from foster care or who leave foster care at age 16 or older. The voucher subsidizes the rent of eligible youth for up to eighteen months.
Healthy Homes Program Brochure
The Healthy Homes program provides homeowners and rental property owners with practical information about how to prevent health and safety hazards. Specific problems such as asthma, allergies and mold are discussed.
Healthy Homes Website
The Healthy Homes program provides homeowners and rental property owners with practical information about how to prevent health and safety hazards. Specific problems such as asthma, allergies and mold are discussed.
Homelessness Resource Center
The Homelessness Resource Center is an interactive community of providers, consumers, policymakers, researchers, and public agencies at federal, state, and local levels.
HUD Strategic Plan FY 2010 -2015
This document lays out the strategic goals and implementation plan for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Neighborhood Networks
HUD created Neighborhood Networks in 1995 to encourage property owners to establish multiservice community learning centers in HUD insured and assisted properties. Neighborhood Networks was one of the first federal initiatives to promote self-sufficiency and help provide computer access to low-income housing communities. Neighborhood Networks centers are alike. With support from innovative public-private partnerships, Neighborhood Networks centers sponsor a range of services and programs. Nearly all centers offer job training and educational opportunities, and many also provide programs that include access to healthcare information and microenterprise development.
Office of Public and Indian Housing Training and Technical Assistance
This resource provides technical assistance to public and Indian housing authorities.