Parents In Jail

Lizeth Gallo
Did He Kill Her?
8/27/2015
What are the chances of kids that have parents in jail, end up in jail themselves?
Normally, when kids have a parent or guardian in prison, they have to go through process to look for a new guardian and new home, which usually it ends up being grandparents, relatives or foster care. The children are left to look after themselves, deal with their emotions and stress. Psychotherapist Dr. Janice Beal says children suffer mental health issues like depression, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and feeling abandonment. This could change their actions and how they feel a lot. When in school it’s harder to concentrate and focus on what they 're doing, grades start dropping down, and socializing becomes

Seventy percent of the kids follow their parents footsteps. They end up committing crimes at some point in their lives. Its five times more likely that they will commit a crime than everyone else.
When children are around when parents are taken away is harder for them. They go into post-traumatic disorder thinking, when will I see them again I ever do, what will happen now, and what will they do. With the pain they’re in, they write a letter to the court saying how they’re feeling and asking to let them to think about the sentencing for them. 1“Unfortunately, they are writing to me to influence sentencing on the case. But it cannot influence me. I have to make a decision based on the offense. It 's clear and obvious to me the pain the children are in from the letter," says U.S. District judge Vanessa Gilmore.
Parents have a hard time too. Gilmore says, 2 “I had one family who I worked for about four or five years. The mom was in prison. Every time she was near release she would do something like get into a fight which would prolong her time. It became obvious that she did not want to get out and parent. She had five kids. The grandmother expressed that she was stressed and tired. She did not want her grandchildren to become a part of the system.” They are sometimes afraid when they get released out of jail because they won’t know how their kids will react and if they’ll accept

They help the kids that have a parent in jail so they won 't end up like them, committing a crime themselves. Angelina Respess, a mother of three young boys have been enrolled in the program. The father who had recently released from jail, Breaking the Cycle are helping the family to be able to have a strong relationship between each other and try to help the children not repeat the same mistake. Angelina Respess, who works with the children says it is harder to work with the parents than the children. There are more than 200 kids that participate in it and about 80 families. Parents don’t usually want or like to take a part of the