By Rachel Leigh
This section will focus on how the child views the imprisonment of a parent, how this can affect them and what can be changed to support these children. Parental imprisonment is classed as one of the 10 adverse childhood experiences and can have a negative impact on a child’s life. (Beresford, 2018).
It is estimated that 312,000 children every year are affected by parental imprisonment”
Kincaid, Roberts and kane, 2019, page 7
Each one of these children has an increased risk of anti-social behaviour, offending, mental health problems, school failure and unemployment due to the disruption of a parent being in prison. (Smith, 2014).
A child’s perspective:
Smith (2014) describes parental imprisonment and the removal of a parent as an event that can impact a child massively. Accounts included in his book written by children with parents in prison show the true impact on the child and the feelings of fear, loss and anxiety that they experience. He writes about one Norwegian boy who recalls the time that his mother told him about his father’s 13-year sentence – he said “I began to cry. I remember I ran out of the car and hid myself behind a trash bin. That’s when I really needed someone to talk to”. A Danish police officer described the circumstances of parental imprisonment that some children experience as ‘distressingly hard’ because the child is always the loser as they have never chosen to be in that situation. The circumstances accounted for in the book emphasise how the traumatic event of a parent being imprisoned can impact a child for the rest of their life.
During the imprisonment of a parent, a child has the right to be heard and have their best interests considered at all times as required by The Human Rights Act 1988 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. (Beresford, 2018). However, this group of children are rarely given the opportunity to have their rights respected. Many children have said that during and after the sentencing of a parent, they often feel that they are not listened to and that the impact of the parent’s sentence on them is not taken into account when the decision is being made. The results of these decisions and imprisonments can have a major impact on the rest of the child’s life.
The effect on the child during imprisonment:
Whilst parental imprisonment can be positive for some children and improve the relationships within that family, it can also have a huge negative impact on the child. (Smith, 2014). After the imprisonment of a mother, only 5% of children remain in the family home causing disruption to every aspect of that child’s life. (Beresford, 2018). Alongside this disruption caused, children also feel invisible and stigmatised within their surrounding environments. The invisibility that children feel can be seen through research when children with a parent in prison are often described as a victim of a hidden sentence (Kincaid, Roberts and Kane, 2019). This is because the impact of a parent’s sentence on a child is often disregarded, causing them to feel locked out of the support systems they need in order to protect them and give them a better chance later in life. (Barnardo’s, 2021). Many children when asked about the imprisonment of their mothers showed strong feelings of shame and said they often felt judged by others including friends, teachers and social workers. These feelings of shame and judgment create more barriers to support, as both mothers in prison and children outside feel too ashamed to ask for help and have a lack of trust in the support systems that have let them down before. (Beresford, 2018).
Parental imprisonment not only has an effect on a child’s emotions but also their education and financial support. This can lead to a decline in children’s behaviour and attendance due to different and difficult situations that the child is facing. (Kincaid, Roberts and Kane, 2019).
The impact of all of the factors above can cause children to struggle not only during their childhood, but also later on in life. Researchers found that 71% of boys aged 32 who had experienced parental imprisonment as a child had antisocial behaviours compared to 19% who never experienced the imprisonment of a parent or separation from them. These children are also twice as more likely to experience mental health problems and are more likely to be arrested and imprisoned themselves later on in life.
In order to help prevent some of these issues for the children of parental imprisonment and to offer early support, changes within policies and organisations need to be made.
What can be changed for the children involved?
In order for children with parents in prison to be recognised as a vulnerable group, a child centred approach needs to be adopted. A system needs to be created where children with a parent in prison are identified early on in the proceedings in order to establish the support needed. Currently, there are many support systems, organisations and policies in place throughout the criminal justice system, however they do not all work together to build an overview of the family and the support needed. (Kincaid, Roberts and Kane, 2019)
A major European study found that those children affected by imprisonment have a greater resilience when information is shared with them, in an age-appropriate way, so they can understand what has happened. Most children are looking for someone to listen to them and to ask how they are feeling throughout their parent’s sentence. Even with some support provided, children may feel they need more. By identifying children of parental imprisonment as a vulnerable group and supporting them early, it will help stop the children feeling overlooked during one of the most challenging life experiences. (Beresford, 2018)
Not only does imprisonment affect the children involved, it also has an impact on the parents inside the prison.
References:
Smith, PS (2014) When the Innocent are Punished. The Children of Imprisoned Parents. England: Palgrave Macmillan
Beresford, S (2018) What about me? The impact on children when mothers are involved in the criminal justice system. Available at: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/portals/0/documents/what%20about%20me.pdf
Barnardo’s (2021) Children with a parent in prison. Available at https://www.barnardos.org.uk/what-we-do/helping-families/children-with-a-parent-in-prison (Accessed: 02/11/21)
Kincaid. S, Roberts. M and Kane. E (2019) Children of Prisoners – Fixing a broken system. Available at https://www.nicco.org.uk/userfiles/downloads/5c90a6395f6d8-children-of-prisoners-full-report-web-version.pdf