The Parent Nurture Science
Program of Columbia University seeks to identify
research-based strategies for effective parent nurturing. Researchers at the Parenting and Family Research Center
at the University of South Carolina suggest the nurturing of children to be the
single most important task of society. In
contrast to the ideals expressed by these excellent research programs,
Murphey and Cooper (2015) identified the harsh reality for
more than five million U.S. children (7%) that had a parent who lived with them
go to jail or prison. The reported
proportion is higher among black, poor, and rural children.
The link between a lack of positive
parental impact during early childhood, reading failure in the early elementary
grades, and subsequent failure in society is profound. Sixty-six percent (2/3) of students who
cannot proficiently read by the end of fourth grade will become involved in
jail or on welfare. This contributes to
the pipeline called the school failure to prison cycle.
When a parent is imprisoned, that
person’s child becomes the next potential victim. While assumptions suggest children with incarcerated parents
are many times more likely than other children to be incarcerated as adults, Mumola
(2000) found there is no reliable research evidence to support such an assertion. By contrast, LaVigne, Naser, Brooks, and
Castro (2005) found evidence that maintaining contact with one’s incarcerated
parent lowers the likelihood of recidivism among incarcerated parents, improves
the child’s emotional response to the incarceration, and supports parent-child
attachment.
Research
on the impact of parental incarceration on children's well-being and
development sought to examine what happens to children as the result of
parental incarceration (Parke
& Clarke-Stewart, 2001).
The researchers found incarceration was not a single or discrete event
but rather a dynamic process that unfolds over time. The impact of this dynamic process produces
both short-term and long-term effects upon children of incarcerated
parents.
Intervening in the lives of children
with an incarcerated parent to preserve and strengthen positive family
connections can yield constructive societal benefits (Christian, 2009). These benefits included reduced recidivism by
the parent, promotion of healthy child development, and decreased
intergenerational involvement in the criminal justice system. However, the child’s adjustment and reaction
to parental incarceration is dependent upon the child’s age, gender, psychosocial
functioning, and previous attachment to the incarcerated parent (Graham &
Harris, 2013). In contrast to political
rhetoric, future research, interventions, and policy decisions must consider
established theoretical perspectives, including developmental and ecological
contexts as well as cross-level analyses of relationships.
While many programs and therapeutic models for
children with incarcerated parents offer promise for meeting some aspect of the
children’s needs, neither the short-term nor the long-term impact upon
children’s well-being have been empirically validated (Graham & Harris,
2013; Hairston, 2007). It is known that the
children of incarcerated mothers are four times more likely to remain in foster
care than all other children. Children
of incarcerated mothers are more likely to age out of the foster care system. Children with incarcerated mothers are less
likely to reunify with their parents, get adopted, enter into subsidized
guardianship, or go into independent living (Moses, 2006).
More
research is needed to determine the efficacy of therapeutic intervention models
and the correlation between parent incarceration and adverse childhood
experiences exhibited in Figure 2 below: 
In the interim, the best way to
derail the school
failure to prison cycle
is to improve literacy rates for at-risk
populations. This is a
logical conclusion given all domains of a child’s development, including his or her
literacy skills, are interrelated and interdependent (Strickland
& Riley-Ayers (2006) and early
literacy success has been strongly correlated with school and societal success.
While a school cannot heal
an innocent child’s broken heart, the people within the school can be culturally
responsive, capable of emotional nurturance, and highly qualified to deliver
the curricula. The presence of those
inviting and empowering conditions can thereby address the at-risk child’s need
for reliable Response
to (Reading) Intervention that provides effective
differentiation and formative assessment processes that can optimize success.
References:
Christian,
S. (2009, March). Children of incarcerated parents. In National Conference
of State Legislatures
Graham, J.A., & Harris, Y.R.
(2013). Children of color and parental incarceration: Implications for
research,theory, and practice. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 41(2), 66-81.
research,theory, and practice. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 41(2), 66-81.
Hairston, C. F. (2007);
Vulnerability of children of incarcerated addict mothers: Implications for
preventive
intervention. Children and Youth Services
Review, 27, 67– 84.
La Vigne, N.G., Naser, R.L. Brooks,
L.E. & Castro, J.L. (2005). Examining the effect of incarceration and
in-prison
family contact on prisoners’ family relationships. Journal of Contemporary
Criminal Justice, 21(4).
Moses, M.C. (2006). Does parental
incarceration increase a child’s risk for foster care placement? NIJ
Mumola, C. J. (2000). Incarcerated parents and their children
. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Justice..
Murphrey,
D. & Cooper, P.M (2015). Parents
behind bars: What happens to their children? Retrieved
Parke,
R.D., & Clarke-Stewart, K.A. (2001) Effects
of parental incarceration on young children
ASPE, U.S. Department of Health
& Human Services. Retrieved from:
Strickland, D. & Riley-Ayers, S (2006) Early literacy: Policy and practice in the preschool
years. National
Institute for Early Education
Research (NIEER). Camden, NJ: Rutgers University
To cite:
Anderson,
C.J. (June 30, 2016) Nurture and the
impact of incarcerated parents upon student
