Main description:

This book presents multidimensional knowledge on children of incarcerated parents using Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory as an organizing framework. It examines the extent to which different levels of the environment are supportive (i.e., leading to resilience) and stress-producing (i.e., contributing to risk). The volume explores four levels of the environment - microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem - with specific theories and paradigms woven into the inquiry at each. At the level of child and family, it discusses the factors that influence resilience and risk in children from gestation through young adulthood; at the community level, it addresses risk and resilience in the interactions between children and families and the various systems with which they interact (e.g., child welfare).

Key areas of coverage include:

* A description of the factors that influence the quality of programming for children and their families.

* A critical analysis of state and national policies that affect which individuals receive, or fail to receive, specific services.

* An overview and evaluation of the state of knowledge and implications for research and practice to improve outcomes for children of incarcerated parents.

* An organizing framework to help researchers identify gaps in the existing knowledge base and distills and organizes evidence-based information for practitioners.

Children of Incarcerated Parents is an essential resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as practitioners, therapists, and other professionals in child and school psychology, family studies, public health, and all interrelated disciplines, including developmental psychology, criminal justice, social work, educational policy and politics.

Contents:

Table of Contents

Preface

Part I. Micro System

Chapter 1: Women and Infants Affected by Incarceration: The Potential Value of Home Visiting Program Engagement

Chapter 2: Adolescents with Incarcerated Parents: Towards Developmentally-Informed Research and Practice

Chapter 3: Family- and School-Based Sources of Resilience among Children of Incarcerated Parents

Part II: The Mesosystem

Chapter 4: The Forgotten: The Impact of Parental and Familial Incarceration on Fragile Communities

Chapter 5: Racial Differences in Female Imprisonment and Foster Care

Chapter 6: Language as a Protective Factor: Making Conscious Word Choices to Support Children with Incarcerated Parents

Part III: Exo System

Chapter 7. Development and Implementation of an Attachment-Based Intervention to Enhance Visits between Children and Their Incarcerated Parents

Chapter 8: A Review of Reentry Programs and Their Inclusion of Families

Chapter 9: Gender Differences and Implications for Programming During the Reentry of Incarcerated Fathers and Mothers Back into Their Communities

Part IV. Macrosystem

Chapter 10: We are not collateral consequences: Arrest to re-entry policy solutions for children of incarcerated parents.

Chapter 11: Toward a Critical Race Analysis of Positive Youth Development for Adolescents of Color Experiencing Parental Incarceration

Chapter 12: Programmatic and Policy Responses to Mothers who are Incarcerated

Chapter 13: Incarcerated Parents and their Children: Perspectives from the Smart Decarceration Social Work Grand Challenge

Epilogue