How policies can respond to parental incarceration

• Preventing and reducing incarceration at the federal, state, and local levels
• Reducing the developmental burden of parental incarceration
• An example at the federal level is the First Step Act, which requires the Bureau of the Prisons to house individuals incarcerated in federal facilities as close to their homes as possible
• Examples at the state level: the map on the next slide shows which states have proposed or passed legislation to help with family separation because of incarceration
• An example at the local level is NY’s City’s Council passing legislation requiring the use of child-sensitive protocols during parental arrest
• Supporting reentry assistance programs at the federal, state, and local levels

Mihalec-Adkins, B.P., Shlafer, R. (2022). The role of policy in shaping and addressing the consequences of parental incarceration for child development in the United States. Social Policy Report, Society for Research in Child Development https://doi.org/10.1002/sop2.25

Laws that can mitigate parent-child separation for justice-involved families

• Caregiver mitigation and diversion laws
  • Creating diversion programs that parents of children can complete instead of going to prison to serve their sentences or
  • Authorizing judges to sentence a person to diversion programs instead of prison if the person is the primary caregiver of a child
• Proximity Laws
  • Incarcerated parents are placed at facilities that are closest to their children

How to create affirming spaces for children with justice-involved parents

The New York Initiative for Children with Incarcerated Parents has created guidelines for supporting children with justice-involved parents:

https://www.osborneny.org/assets/files/6_23_21_SeeUs_SupportUs_Creating_Affirming_spaces.pdf