More Than Parents in Prison: The Broader Overlap Between the Criminal Justice and Child Welfare Systems

Abstract

Because of the dramatic rise in incarceration rates during the past two decades, children of incarcerated parents have been a topic of increasing interest. Children who have parents in jail or prison, however, are only a subgroup of the children child protective services agencies encounter who have parents who are involved with the criminal justice system. According to data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, the primary caregivers of one in three children in in-home settings have been arrested, but are not currently incarcerated. Households headed by caregivers who have been arrested have higher levels of substance abuse, domestic violence, and extreme poverty than households with never-arrested caregivers. Children of arrested and never-arrested caregivers have comparable levels of clinically significant emotional and behavioral problems, but these problems are more prevalent in both groups than is typical for children in the general population. There are special considerations in working with families in which a parent is incarcerated, but the child welfare field should not overlook opportunities to improve outcomes related to the safety, permanency, and well-being of children whose parents are involved at other points within the criminal justice system.