In 1991, 449,600 State and Federal prisoners revealed being a parent to a minor and by 1999 there was at least 721,500 parents in prison (Nesmith & Ruhland, 2008). From the novel Orange Is The New Black, main character Piper Kerman is sentenced to 15 months in a Correctional Facility in Danbury, Connecticut. Kerman being a white female learns to adjust herself to the strict rules, but at the same time creates a bond with the other women also incarcerated. Although Piper struggles to adjust to this life she obtains endless support from both her friends and family. She gets countless visits from her families which impacts her well being while being incarcerated. As for many other women incarcerated do not have the same support from their families …show more content…
The women who have children are most likely go into foster care, which lead to the separation of families. Data proves “that a child with an incarcerated father is 4 times more likely to face foster system contact and 5 times more likely if the mother is incarcerated” (Raeder, 2012). When these children go into foster care women often lose contact of their children and even children who have multiple siblings get separated by them in foster care. In addition Kerman describes on mother’s day how there is large groups of families in the visiting room. Some of these women’s families “lacked the resources to come and visit even though many of them lived in New York City” (Kerman 2011). Furthermore, these families who took custody of toddler and teenagers also had a hard time guiding them on the bus, train, and taxis. Trips to the Correctional Facility was a burden for families, causing them not too visit whomever was incarcerated. For the women who are incarcerated families can be a source of support when serving their term in prison. For example, piper describes when families went to visit in prison women were extremely happy to have seen all of them (Kerman, 2011). Having the support from family can help and motivate the individual while in