That's the conclusion of a new report from Child Trends, a non-profit center dedicated to providing educational research for lawmakers. The center's new report on Parents Behind Bars examines the impact of incarceration on the children of inmates, and the results aren't pretty: More than five million children in the United States—one in 14, to be more precise—had at least one parent in prison at some point in their lives, and the resulting trauma can often lead to both physical and psychological problems for their entire lives.
The causes of this trauma are varied, but in all cases the incarceration means a child is far more likely to experience additional adversity in the crucial years of their development. More than half of children who have seen a parent go to prison have also lived with someone with a substance abuse problem (compared to less than 10 percent of those without a parent in prison). Nearly 60 percent also saw their parents divorce, while the divorce rate was substantially lower for those families without prison in the mix. Finally, more than a third witnessed domestic violence. Incarceration, the forcible wrenching of a family unit, leaves dysfunction in its wake.
These traumas have serious long-term consequences for childhood development. According to Child Trends, children between the ages of six and 11 with incarcerated parents are more likely to have problems at school and be less engaged in their classes. They're also more likely than other children to have emotional control issues (72 percent versus 64 percent). Part of this is simply due to stigma: "Having an imprisoned parent is an example of a loss that is not socially approved or (often) supported," the report states, "which may compound children's grief and pain, leading to emotional difficulties and problem behaviors."
