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EDITORIAL |
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State
Rep. Cherelle Parker |
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Please consider the following editorial by Rep. Cherelle Parker, D-Phila. If you have any questions, please contact Bill Thomas at 717-787-7895 or by e-mail at wthomas@pahouse.net.
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Children left alone: the forgotten cost of incarcerated parents
The numbers are shocking and staggering. A report released last week by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States showed that the United States has more than 2.3 million people incarcerated in jails and prisons, a rate leading all other nations across the globe. It placed a spotlight on an ever-increasing debate on the ballooning prison populations facing state and local communities.
But as staggering as this report was, there is an underlying current that often goes unreported. With incarceration reaching an all-time high here in the United States, the criminal justice system is now affecting the lives of millions of children each and every year.
Currently, there are an estimated 1.5 million children in the United States under the age of 18 who have a parent incarcerated. In Pennsylvania, about 60 percent of incarcerated women have children 18 or younger. Startling as it may seem, one in five children has seen his or her mother taken into custody by law enforcement. Perhaps even more shocking is that there are few policies and protocols in place to ensure that even the most basic needs of these children are met during and immediately following this crisis.
Much attention has been given to the profound consequences of parental separation and loss in terms of divorce and death, but little has been done to address similar losses in the context of parental loss due to incarceration. According to the Urban Institute, parental separation from imprisonment can have profound emotional and psychological impacts on a child, from feelings of shame, social stigma and changes in family structure to increased risk of neglect, loss of financial support and juvenile delinquency.
That is why I have introduced legislation that would create a task force to determine the special and unique needs of Pennsylvania's children with incarcerated parents. The measure, known as the No Child Left Alone Act, would seek to gather information as to how the Commonwealth can address this issue and to assist caregivers in meeting these children's needs.
I believe that by passing this legislation, we would help to prevent truancy, juvenile delinquency and drug and alcohol abuse that has been demonstrated among children with parents in prison. By reducing these tendencies, we could help to diminish their effects on the already overburdened school systems and would help provide an avenue for these children to avoid falling into the cycle of intergenerational incarceration.
While the crimes that many of these parents have committed are inexcusable, we cannot let their children be held accountable for their parents' actions. Regardless of what their parents have done, these children deserve a fair chance at a productive life. It is up to us in the state legislature to make sure their unique needs are being met.