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Consulting: Workshops

Children of Incarcerated Parents:  They're Crime Victims, Too!

For people who work with children ages 3-8

There are a million and a half American children under 18 who have a parent in prison. And three hundred seventy-five thousand are under 5.  The number grows daily, and exponentially. (Statistics from the Dept of Justice.) 

Early childhood teachers and providers will meet these children...two of every one hundred American children have a parent in prison. 

Various aspects of work on behalf of children who have parents in prison:

I've noticed that each agency and perhaps even each person I meet who has an interest in children who have parents in prison has a different perspective.

There are those who ache on behalf of the parent, and want to make sure that s/he sees the child as often as possible. Failing visits, these people make sure that other ways of communication between parent and child by mail, telephone or other media (video story reading is a particularly good example) can take place.

There are those who focus upon the conditions for visits between prisoners and their children. Whether these condition allow prisoners and their children to touch each other is a crucial element.

There are those who are concerned about the high rate of imprisonment among children of prisoners, and are concerned with helping prevent those children from becoming prisoners themselves.

There are those who focus upon the impact of the arrest on the child who witnesses it.

There are those who are most concerned with the placement of children who ve been uprooted through arrest of their parents.

There are those whose main focus is the period just after the prisoner is released, when the family is, or isn't reunited.

There are those who focus upon the reunification of the family, looking at laws which make reunification impossible if the parent is imprisoned for more than a certain period.

There are those who focus upon the conditions for visits between prisoners and their children.

And there are those, including myself, who focus upon the immediate and long-range emotional needs of the child whose life is in so many ways disrupted and displaced by the tragedy being acted out in his or her family.

My workshops are intended to help people who come into daily or weekly contact with children who are living with these problems. We talk about the needs of the children and how to meet them, the behaviors that come up and how to respond to them, and the adult confusions about what is needed. We share resources and I bring what research I have found to share. There are some books for young children on the subject, and we look at these critically, in order to understand what is helpful. We often cry, and our tears are respected. What we say about ourselves is kept confidential.

Because my mother has left me some money, I m able to give these workshops for expenses and a small fee. I require that the group be no more than 25 people, but it is possible to schedule two or more workshops on successive days if there is a demand for them.

This workshop is designed to help adults who work with such children and families find ways to help them carry their burden.  We will examine the shame, the guilt, the secrecy, the lies, the lack of self-esteem that follow from living in a family with an imprisoned member.  We'll look at A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS some children's books, and at our own capacities to nurture these children, helping them find resiliency and strength.

E-mail:  sydney@eceteacher.org, www.eceteacher.org • (C) Copyright Sydney Gurewitz Clemens, 2007