San Francisco Chronicle piece on children of parents who are incarcerated highlights an aspect of community trauma

A poignant and powerful San Francisco Chronicle special report published Friday outlines the challenges that children of parents who are incarcerated face, and society’s collective failure to address the issue. PI Managing Director Rachel Davis comments in the article that children are often stigmatized in school when they should be supported: “’They’re dealing with that day in and day out, and then we expect them to come into a classroom and learn,’ she said.”

In “Captive Lives”, reporter Jill Tucker weaves the personal tale of Luna Garcia, whose father has been incarcerated for most of her 17 years, with convincing data on how mass incarceration, systemic inequities, and government inaction adversely impacts the lives of millions of children.  An estimated 10 million children in the U.S. have experienced having an imprisoned parent at some point in their life. As the article notes, the impact this has on a child is profound. Children of parents who are incarcerated  are:

• More likely to experience physical and mental health issues, including anxiety and depression;
• Less likely to become financially stable and more likely to become homeless;
• More likely to drop out or be suspended from school, and less likely to get a college degree;
• Up to three times more likely to enter the criminal justice system; and
• More likely to suffer from behavioral problems, low self-esteem and drug or alcohol abuse

The article notes that though 2.7 million American children currently live with at least one parent in prison, there is a lack of any sustained, coordinated and adequately-funded public policy solution, noting, “…the needs of children like these have been largely ignored. Government efforts to help them are scant. Unlike for children in poverty or English learners, there is no consistent funding designated to aid them.”

The article details some community efforts that are successfully offering hope to children of parents who are incarcerated, such as Community Works West’s Project WHAT!  These are inspiring and important, and should be supplemented with upstream approaches that alter the community conditions that lead to crime and incarceration. A recent Prevention Institute report, Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience, outlines specific strategies to address and prevent the community trauma that comes from systemic disenfranchisement based on race, income, gender, and disability. Symptoms of this trauma include deteriorated environments and public spaces; limited employment; intergenerational poverty; and disconnected social relations and networks.

For kids who are living in neighborhoods with adverse community conditions, these conditions exacerbate the trauma of having a parent who is incarcerated because there are fewer supports and other resilience factors in place. When parks and streets are unsafe or in disrepair, children are less likely to be physically active and involved in their communities. Children exposed to violence are at a higher risk for depression, suicide, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The trauma that children of parents who have been incarcerated experience is further magnified when the communities they live in lack networks to support healing and connection between people. Social cohesion—the extent that neighbors know one another, are connected to their community and their environment, and feel a sense of power and autonomy to improve the safety and well-being of their loved ones —could be a powerful protective factor for these children.

But the goal must be to prevent the incarceration of parents in the first place. By transforming community conditions that result in adverse community experiences, we can bolster resilience factors and significantly reduce crime and incarceration rates. The most effective and sustainable strategies are those that  build resilience, heal community trauma, and prevent future trauma. These strategies include: healing circles that provide space for expression; restorative justice programs that shift the norms around conflict resolution; safer public spaces by addressing parks, housing quality and transportation; rebuilding social relationships, particularly intergenerational ones, and increasing opportunities for education, job training, and livable wages.

All people deserve to have a sense of belonging, dignity and hope. We need to engage leaders from multiple sectors and start listening to our youth and communities, who understand the conditions they face and the kinds of solutions that will address them better than anyone. Incarceration, and the resultant separation of children from parents, is preventable. Let’s start investing more in the individuals, families, and neighborhoods that have been left behind.