Incarcerated Custodial Parents and their children

An estimated 721,500 prisoners are parents to 1,498,800 children.

If there is not a person present at the time of arrest for the parent to leave their child with, the kids go into foster care.

51% of foster care cases nationally do not have the end goal of family reunification.

Of the Nation’s 72.3 million children in 1999, 2.1% had a parent in prison. Black children were nearly 9 times more likely to have a

parent in prison than Anglo children while Hispanic children were 3 times as likely.

The researchers found that:-22% of all minor children with a parent in prison were under 5.-10% of mothers and 2% of fathers in State prison reported a child now

living in a foster home other than a relatives.-A majority of both fathers (57%) and mothers (54%) in State prison reported

never having a personal visit with their children since admission.-Over 60% of parents in State prison reported being held over 100 miles from

their last place of residence.

Age % of children w/ Parents in prison, 1997 Less than 1 year old 2.1% 1-4 years old 20.4% 5-9 years old 35.1 % 10-14 years old 28.0 % 15-17 years old 14.5 %