New York State of Mind: Parental Incarceration and Children's Visitation in New York State

• Date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12491
• Author: Mia Anne Polizzotto
• Published date: 01 April 2020

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: PARENTAL INCARCERATION AND

CHILDREN’S VISITATION IN NEW YORK STATE

Mia Anne Polizzotto

The incarceration of a parent has a variety of negative effects on a child’s psychological, academic, and developmental suc-

cess. Children can end up in foster care as a result of the state terminating parental rights due to the parent’s incarceration.

Despite imprisonment of their parent(s), maintenance of visitation with the parent(s) is still important for their children. How-

ever, not all prisons have visitation programs that are suitable to visiting children. This Note proposes a model state statute

that will recognize the importance of visitation, implement “child friendly”visitation programs, facilitate training for prison

staff, and provide transportation for children in major cities to the prison facilities.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Approximately 105,000 children in New York have an incarcerated parent, while 2.7 million children in the United

States have an incarcerated parent.

The incarceration of a parent and the visitation in prison between the parent and child can affect a child psychologi-

cally, emotionally, academically, and developmentally.

Obstacles exist to visitation between incarcerated parents and their children in New York, including distance, lack of

transportation, cost, and stress.

Keywords: Parental Incarceration; Incarcerated Parents; Children of Incarcerated Parents; Incarceration; Imprisonment;

Prisons; Correctional Facilities; Parental Rights; Visitation; Child Welfare.

I. INTRODUCTION

Many children in the United States have interactions with the criminal justice system due to the

incarceration of one or both of their parents.

1

In the United States, studies estimate that approxi-

mately 2.7 million children currently have an incarcerated mother or father.

2

This figure equates to

approximately one in twenty-eight children nationwide having an incarcerated parent.

3

This number

stems from the fact that there are 1.1 million incarcerated fathers and more than 120,000 incarcer-

ated mothers that are the parents of minor children in the United States.

4

However, the amount of

children who have experienced parental incarceration in the United States is actually greater than

2.7 million, as 10 million children in the United States, at some point in their lives, have had an

incarcerated mother or father.

5

The incarceration of a parent disproportionately affects children from certain racial groups and

income levels.

6

Parental incarceration is more likely to effect Black children than Hispanic and

White children.

7

Studies from 2015 demonstrate that approximately one in nine Black children have

an incarcerated parent, while one in sixteen and one in seventeen Hispanic and White children,

respectively, have an incarcerated parent.

8

Furthermore, parental incarceration is more likely to

impact children living below the poverty line.

9

Specifically, “a child living in poverty is three times

more likely (12.5%) to have experienced parental incarceration than a child whose household

income is at least twice the federal poverty level (3.9%).”

10

Correspondence: E-mail: mpolizzotto1@pride.hofstra.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 58 No. 2, April 2020 619–634

© 2020 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

A parent’s incarceration is categorized as an adverse childhood experience, leading to trauma,

shame, and stigma from the parental incarceration.

11

Parental incarceration disrupts the relationship

between a child and parent and may lead to adverse childhood experiences.

12

Studies have demon-

strated that chronic health conditions, risky health behaviors, and early death can be associated with

adverse childhood experiences and increased trauma.

13

The children of incarcerated parents are

more likely to face additional adverse experiences in addition to parental incarceration, such as

parental separation or divorce, and exposure to violence.

14

Children of incarcerated parents experience increased trauma because of the loss of an attach-

ment figure in their lives.

15

The trauma may also stem from the child being a witness to the parent’s

arrest and their contact with the law enforcement, cor rections, and child welfare agencies.

16

Chil-

dren of incarcerated parents also suffer from lack of support or sympathy due to the social stigma

related to parental incarceration.

17

Associations have been found between parental incarceration and

more emotional difficulties in children.

18

For example, the trauma that children of incarcerated par-

ents face can manifest itself as anxiety, depression, social isolation, and irritability.

19

Children of

incarcerated parents are two times as likely to experience mental health problems when compared

to children without incarcerated parents.

20

Additionally, poor school performance and antisocial

behavior have also been associated with children of incarcerated parents.

21

Specifically, children

ages six to eleven with an incarcerated mother or father were more likely to have low engagement

in school and were more likely to have issues in school than their peers without incarcerated par-

ents.

22

Also, children ages twelve to seventeen with an incarcerated mother or father were more

likely to have difficulties in school than their peers without incarcerated parents.

23

The children of

incarcerated parents face an increased risk of experiencing household instability or living in

poverty.

24

Children of incarcerated parents may experience household instability following the incarcera-

tion of one or both of their parents.

25

This household instability stems from the children’s living

situation changing after the parent’s incarceration.

26

According to the Bureau of Justice Statis-

tics, before incarceration, 64% of mothers and 46.5% percent of fathers had at least one minor

child living with them.

27

As a result of parental incarceration, 90% of children remain with

their mothers when their father is incarcerated, 25% of children live with their fathers when

their mother is incarcerated, and 50% of children live with their grandmothers when their

mother is incarcerated.

28

This Note proposes a model state statute. The statute will include implementing child-friendly

visitation programs in prisons throughout the state, facilitating transportation for children from

major cities for visitation, beginning pilot programs for video visitation, and placing incarcerated

parents in prisons closest to their minor children. The statute advocates that prison staff receive spe-

cial training to facilitate visitation with children and the New York State Department of Corrections

updates the New York State official website with hours of visitation and conside rs opening more

prison nurseries in women’s prisons.

This Note consists of eight parts evaluating the effect of a parent’s incarceration on a child and

the need for a model state statute that addresses the needs of this vulnerable population. Part II of

this note evaluates the current practices for visitation in prisons throughout New York, including

contact visitation, non-contact visitation, and video-visitation. It explains the importance of visita-

tion for children’s well-being and current obstacles with visitation programs. Part III explores infor-

mation specifically related to New York State prisons, including statistics and visitation programs.

Part IV of this Note illustrates the best practices for visitation, highlighting model programs that

are considered “child-friendly.”Part V discusses parental rights after a parent is incarcerated. Par t

VI explains the proposed solution, which addresses the need for “child-friendly”visitation practices

and programs that decrease the obstacles of distance, cost, time, and stress to families. Part VII dis-

cusses counter-arguments that the proposed solution may bring about; possible counter-arguments

include cost and the notion that a child does not belong in prison. Lastly, Part VIII will conclude

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