NCOFF Roundtable Series --
Constructing and Coping with Incarceration and Family
Re-Entry: Perspectives from the Field,
(November 15th and 16th, 2001)

Overview
Until recently, discussions about incarcerated parents have been driven by advocates and practitioners lobbying for criminal justice and prison policy reform. Yet, issues of incarceration and its effects on parents, families, children, and communities are as much human developmental concerns as policy dilemmas. The purpose of this roundtable is to explore both developmental and policy issues within the contexts of responsible fathering, family support, and child welfare. The roundtable itself is designed to examine approaches that recognize and address the complexities of the presence, absence, and re-entry of incarcerated fathers in the lives of children and families. It is also intended to identify pathways leading to an integrated knowledge base on incarcerated fathers, families, and communities that will be useful to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

The Problem
Issues around incarceration may be examined through multiple lenses, but they are soundly concerns of development and parental absence. More than 5 million adults in the United States are under the supervision of the criminal justice system; more than 1.9 million of these adults are in prisons or jails (Beck, 2001). Nearly 59 percent of women in federal prisons and 65 percent of women in state prisons are mothers of children under 18 years of age. However, well over 90 percent of incarcerated adults are men; more than 63 percent of men in federal prisons and nearly 55 percent of men in state prisons are fathers of children under 18 (Mumola, 2000). The typical male inmate grew up in a single-parent, mother-headed home and has at least one family member who has been incarcerated. More than two-thirds of inmates will be re-arrested within three years of their release.

Father incarceration is directly linked to negative outcomes for children and families, as well as to intergenerational patterns of risk, poor schooling, and father absence. Although official policies do not always exist to collect information on children of parents involved in the criminal justice system, it is estimated that this issue touches the lives of more than 1.5 million minor children. Just as incarceration rates have been increasing, the number of children living in homes without their fathers is also rising. Children with absent fathers are at greater risk than those whose fathers are present for teen pregnancy, drug use, poor grades, incarceration, and suicide—all of which appear to be magnified when the absence is due to imprisonment. As welfare professionals encounter a growing number of children with incarcerated parents and attempt to determine their specific needs, they have observed a negative impact on academic achievement and an increase in disciplinary problems as a result of a parent’s incarceration. The problems affecting incarcerated fathers, their families, and their children are compounded and exacerbated by poverty, racial discrimination, unemployment, poor schooling, hardship, and father absence—which themselves are known predictors of risk and of potential incarceration and which persist for many men, women, and children.

The Need
Responsible fatherhood is an important issue in family research and practice and has become one of the top priorities for policymakers and elected officials, in an almost unprecedented rise from obscurity as recently as five years ago. All 50 states now have responsible fatherhood programs or policy in place, and the recent welfare reform law was built on the premise that government policy should encourage the financial and emotional involvement of fathers in raising their children. Despite the increased significance of fathering at all levels of government, there are few studies that focus on fathers in the criminal justice system, in particular on the capacity of state criminal justice efforts to facilitate father involvement; on the degree to which state fatherhood policy is reflected in state policy initiatives; or on the extent to which current prison efforts create mechanisms to help fathers re-connect with their children post-incarceration.

The concerns related to incarceration and its impact on fathers and families cross the boundaries that typically divide research and practice and that separate these spheres from policymaking. Addressing these concerns requires collective, collaborative, and strategic efforts that reduce risks to children resulting from fathers’ incarceration; that position families and communities to be protective factors for children; that assist families and communities to address and redress the issues that arise from father absence and re-entry after incarceration; and that determine how correctional institutions, family services, and labor agencies can respond to the issues of responsible fathering both within correctional settings and within the fathers’ families and communities of origin.

The Roundtable
In the midst of heightened public and political sensitivity to and concern about families, this roundtable is intended to address the relative absence of rigorous discussion and policies concerning the issues of incarcerated fathers, their families, and children. A centerpiece of the discussion at NCOFF’s roundtable will focus on the ways that responsible fathering efforts within states and across the nation are being discussed and addressed within correctional institutions.

This roundtable will focus on three themes: (1) "Incarcerated Parents and Child and Family Welfare"; (2) "Intersections of Responsible Fathering, Family Support, and Correctional Systems: Positioning the States"; and (3) "The Role of Programs, Practice, and Community in Supporting Fathers and Families Pre-, During, and Post-Imprisonment." Each session will be interactive, developed around a core set of questions and providing roundtable attendees with opportunities to discuss in depth the issues raised in both small working groups and larger conversations. The roundtable will also be accessible online at a URL to be announced.

Notes:
Beck, A. J. & Karberg, J. C. (2001). Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2000. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice.
Mumola, C. J. (2000). Incarcerated Parents and Their Children. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

For more information, contact NCOFF.