Children of Incarcerated Parents
Seeing & Supporting Children of Incarcerated Parents
October 2022 marked the eighth year of See Us, Support Us (SUSU), a month of national awareness-raising launched by the Osborne Association about the 1 in 14 children who experience parental incarceration. As part of SUSU, the NYS Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children hosted a webinar on how to support children's physical health and emotional well-being. Considering children’s needs when making sentencing decisions about their parents and the importance of visiting was also discussed. The PJCJC’s Executive Director, Kristen Conklin, Esq., was the moderator of the facilitated discussion and panelists were:
- Allison Hollihan, MS - Licensed Mental Health Counselor; Director, New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents at Osborne
- Julie Poehlmann, PhD - Dorothy A. O’Brien Professorship in Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison; child clinical psychologist; nationally and internationally recognized scholar on children with incarcerated parents
- Folashade Olatunde - See Us, Support Us Youth Fellow
- Assia Serrano - Osborne Speakers Bureau and Mother
The live event occurred on October 18, 2022 and CLE credits are no longer available to viewers. Thank you to our co-sponsors, NYS Unified Court System Office for Justice Initiatives, the Osborne Association, and the Redlich Horwitz Foundation for its generous support of our programming.
VIDEO:
https://cmi.nycourts.gov/vod/WowzaPlayer/oca/20221018-PJC-ChildrenofIncarceratedParents
For closed captioning, click the CC button at the bottom right of the video player.
Handouts & Other Information:
Osborne Association/Allison Hollihan PPT
A Developmental Perspective on Children With Incarcerated Parents by Julie Poehlmann and Kristin Turney
View the article online on Julie Poehlmann’s open access library re Children of incarcerated parents: https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdep.12392
Section 72-C - [Effective 12/23/2021] Placement of individuals with children
11-OCFS-ADM-07 Incarcerated Parents and Parents in Residential Drug Treatment considerations for TPR
NY CLS Soc Serv_384b, Part 1 of 2
Chapter 113 mailer_Prison_2016
Sesame Street video that Dr. Poehlmann didn't have time to play
Be Sure Your Child is Cared For & Safe
The Commission, working with experts in the field, developed a flyer to help parents who have been arrested plan for their children. The flyer describes and provides forms to designate a person in parental relation so that their children have caregivers with the legal ability to make education and medical decisions for their children. While the flyer does not provide legal advice, it does explain various short- and long-term options that help parents plan appropriately for their children’s care and provides information about resources that can be helpful to the parent, their children and their children’s caregivers.
The flyer is currently available for download in English, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean & Russian. (Please note, the flyer was designed for and is best printed on legal size paper.)
Copies of the flyer (in English or Spanish only) can be ordered online using the online order form. A hard copy order form is also available.
The information in the flyer is also broken down into the following information sheets (all sheets are available in English, forms are also available in Spanish):
- Fact Sheet on Options for Incarcerated Parents
- Form 1. Parental Appointment of Your Child’s Caregiver for 30 Days or Less
- Form 2. Parental Appointment of Your Child’s Caregiver for 12 Months or Less
- Resource Sheet for Incarcerated Parents and Their Children’s Caregivers
- Form 1. Parental Appointment of Your Child’s Caregiver for 30 Days or Less (Spanish)
- Form 2. Parental Appointment of Your Child’s Caregiver for 12 Months or Less (Spanish)
In April 2010, then-Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman announced the release of this flyer. In his letter to criminal justice professionals, he noted, “the intent is that this flyer increases the focus and steps taken – immediately and over time – to keep children safe and to reduce the trauma associated with the circumstances.”
Please read the Frequently Asked Questions for further information or listen to the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police Podcast.