Understanding the Needs of Children with Incarcerated Parents

Children’s Exposure to Parental Incarceration

Currently, an estimated 2.7 million children—or 1 in 28 of those under the age of 18—have a biological mother or father who is incarcerated in a local jail, state prison, or federal prison. And, given that most individuals are eventually released from confinement, back to their families and communities, even more children will experience the incarceration of a parent over the course of their lives. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study—a longitudinal study of nearly 5,000 U.S. children born in urban areas around the turn of the century—show that, by age 9, about one-third of children experience the incarceration of a biological father and about one-tenth of children experience the incarceration of a biological mother.5

https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2019/turney