Posted on   1/11/2012  3:06 PM

One in 40 children in the U.S. has an incarcerated parent.

Too often, these children are present at the time of their parent’s arrest and never told the truth about where their mother or father really is. This leaves children confused and questioning – and capable of developing a mental illness.

In our work, we see many children suffering from depression, lower grades, separation anxiety, impaired emotional development, acute traumatic stress reactions, survivor guilt, and delinquent juvenile behaviors such as drug use, violence, and teen pregnancy.

Some of our children are in the foster care system where the problems are more acute. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that more than 80 percent of the 588,000 children in the nation’s foster care system have mental health issues, compared with about 10 percent of all U.S. children.

This isn’t surprising, since many incarcerated parents have mental health problems. Consider these statistics: the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 56 percent of state prisoners, 45 percent of federal prisoners, and 64 percent of local jail inmates have a mental illness.

Without a doubt, the loss of a parent to incarceration means a crisis for that child. This year, we’re going to take a closer look at the junction between mental illness and children of prisoners. We’ll offer thoughts and solutions to tackling this crisis.

Register in this blog, and let us know your ideas as well.