Strengthening Families Affected by Incarceration - Assignment Example

Strengthening Families Affected by Incarceration Introduction: Strengthening the incarceration-affected families is an important objective of government to show the public policy priority. Government established some non-profit organization which can increase the level of social welfare (Travis and Waul, 2003, p.259). The number of prisoners is growing gradually. It is becoming very difficult to maintain childcare and child welfare mechanism for the children of the prisoners. The number of this type of welfare organization is becoming insufficient to maintain the process for all children of all prisoners. Therefore, the demand for these organizations is growing high and with this the cost of welfare is also increasing day-by-day. Correction policies and regulations: The relationship between parent and child is not dependent on the family history. Prisoners can not talk to their children. They do not have the opportunity to guide their children. They are unable do provide a safe life to their children. As they do not have any fixed income sources, they can not provide financial support to their children (Seymour and Hairston, 2001, p.155). Helping the prisoners to maintain relationship with their children was neglected under the correction policies and regulations (Seymour and Hairston, 2001, p.156). But now the correction policies are giving more importance on maintaining the relationship between the prisoners and their children through proper communication by visiting, phone calling and mailing. These policies and regulations are being controlled properly. These families and children are dependent on these policies and regulations. US government is paying much more attention the effectiveness of the public law for children and families. The National Commission of Children was established under the Public Law 100-203 in 1991 (Gabel and Johnston, 1995, p.292). Though the total number of children of incarcerated parents was around 1,500,000, not a single line was discussed in that policy comprehensive document. This shows the negligence of the US government and Public Law. Most of the advocates deny the fact that the current trend of tough punishment for the prisoners is not affecting their family members and their children (Gabel and Johnston, 1995, p.295). Stakeholders in strengthening family of incarcerated parents: In this context the main stakeholders are the prisoners and their family members, especially their children as they are totally involved in this case. The effectiveness and involvement of public policies, public awareness and government participation can not be neglected in this case. The prisoners and their family members are very interested to communicate with each other. Due to the hectic process of visiting in correction institutions with the prisoners, the family members became less interested to meet with them. The expensive call charges for prisoners, the family members cannot communicate with the prisoners. These social and political barriers are able to reduce the frequency of communication between them. The public policy makers are less interested in this topic. The US government is also not worried so much to improve the present situation and availability of opportunities for the prisoners. The US government has the power to change the public policies through proper modification of Public Law, which will be effective for the prisoners and their family members. Public awareness is a very important requirement for improving the current condition of the prisoners in US. Public and government should remove all irrelevant social obstacles for the prisoner and also for their family members and their children. Visiting in the correction Institute: Visiting time and the frequency of this is limited for a specified time interval. Sometimes, it may not be sufficient for the prisoners and their children. There are lots of rules and regulation which make the visiting process much more hectic. As an effect of social obstacles, the prisoners have to maintain a distance with their children. “ In some institutions, for example, a parent may not hold a child on his lap.” (Seymour and Hairston, 2001, p.157) The environment of prisoner visiting is not psychologically suitable for their children. These children are treated as the children of prisoners, not as the children of an individual. These hectic and unhealthy environments are the main reason for families or children’s unwillingness to come for a visit in a frequent basis (Seymour and Hairston, 2001, p.158). For these external regulations, psychologically they avoid to communicate everyday with their family members or their children. Telephone and Mail communication: At the first look, it seems to us that the telephonic conversation between the prisoners and their children or other family members is beneficiary for them. Unfortunately, in 1998 a review of these families showed that those phone calls are really expensive for those families, as the call rate was three times more than the normal call rate (Seymour and Hairston, 2001, p.158). Most of the prisoner families are very poor and it is very difficult to have even a very short conversation on phone with their family members. Therefore, they have to forego this expensive option to communicate with their family members, especially with their children. Mail communication has some social costs. Mail from a prison is marked with a stamp, which denotes a warning that the mail is sent from a correction institute. Prisoners’ families are discouraged by the society for this issue. So, family members are not interested to collect those mails from prisoners. Prison wage and financial support: The issues regarding visiting, communicating with their family members directly affect family members and children. On the other hand, there are some other indirect aspects, which also affect their families. The uncertainty in fixed income cannot provide sufficient financial support to their families. They cannot provide proper care for their children (Seymour and Hairston, 2001, p.159). Some prisoners try to send a little amount of their wages through working in the correction institutions. But this minimum support is almost negligible for their family expenditure. It is not sufficient for taking proper child-care. Child welfare practices: In any child welfare practices, prisoner fathers are totally neglected by the welfare services. They have no involvement in taking any vital decision for their children. Usually, these prisoners are not considered as fathers of these children. The working children don’t even know about their fathers’ circumstances and they are also not interested in taking information of their fathers’ condition (Seymour and Hairston, 2001, p.161). These children welfare agencies are not concerned about the parental incarceration. These policies are not effective for these workers. They manage to get less or no guidance from these child welfare agencies. Future strategies for effective change: Public awareness is the most important factor to improve the current condition of policies for the prisoners and their family members, mainly their children. Family members and children have to face lot of difficulties and have to go through a very hectic process to meet with their fathers and mothers in a correction institution. To remove these difficulties, public awareness is a necessary requirement. Also government should develop some family oriented policies, which will be effective for the prisoners and their family members. These policies should maintain the proper relationship between prisoner and their children. The existing policies may be effective if those policies can be implemented properly. Some psychological aspects are also included in this context. Prisoners should feel that they could be a good father or a good mother for their children. Responsibility of parents should be increased in taking any vital decision for their children. Social and political obstacles should be removed from the society to make it a suitable place for prisoners and mainly for their children. This will help to strengthening family relationships for prisoners. To improve the current condition of system, government should implement innovative child support policies, which will be much more effective for prisoners and their children (Seymour and Hairston, 2001, p.163). Foreseen and unforeseen of alternative strategies: Child-care is mainly dependent on children’s mothers. For mother prisoners, it is very necessary to meet with their offsprings more frequently. It will be good for children if their mothers can come home for a scheduled time to take care of them. As a result, people will raise many social obstacles and social issues against this policy because society will not accept regular presence of prisoners. Society will loose its balance. Therefore, these alternatives cannot be implemented to improve the parent-child relationship. Conclusion: Incarcerated parents should understand that they can be a good father or mother of their children (Balter, n.d., p.318). Parents should take this psychological preparation to take care and provide financial assistance to their children. Public policies should be modified for the benefit of the prisoners and their family members. Government’s participation is also a very important requirement for the development of the current condition of prisoners and their children. What the US government has already done for prisoners and their families is not sufficient and effective for them. They should implement those public policies more efficiently. There are almost 1.53 million children of incarcerated parents in US in 1995 (Balter, n.d., p.318). Separation between prisoner parents and their children is the main reason for less security, less financial assistance and less responsibility for their children. Therefore, to avoid these risks, they should remove the barriers for the prisoners to meet their family members in a less hectic process in correction institution. So, people should aware of the fact that the development of the condition of these children of incarcerated parents is very necessary to transform those children into a good social citizen of the society. References: 1. Gabel, K. and Johnston D. (1995). Children of incarcerated parents. New York: Lexington Books. 2. Balter, L. (n.d.). Parenthood in America: an encyclopedia. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. 3. Seymour, C. and Hairston, C.F. (2001). Children with parents in prison: child welfare policy, program and practice issues. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. 4. Travis, J. and Waul, M. (2003). Prisoners once removed: the impact of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities. The Urban Institute. Read More