Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents

In the state of Arizona, children of incarcerated parents are among the most vulnerable and over-looked groups, with close to 13%, or almost one in five, having experienced the incarceration of a parent. In addition, nearly 6 million children across the United States have experienced losing a parent to prison or jail at some point in their lives, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. As the number of parents incarcerated has continued to increase, so has the need to address the impact on children, particularly here in the Southwest United States where children are more likely to experience parental incarceration compared to their peers in other parts of the country.

In 2004, former Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano, charged the Office for Children, Youth and Families, the Arizona Parents Commission on Drug Education and Prevention, and the Arizona Department of Corrections with the task of establishing the Children of Incarcerated Parents Initiative. As part of this initiative, the Parents Commission allocated funding to support a study of the prevalence and needs of Arizona’s children of incarcerated parents and helped to establish the Arizona Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights Project.

In the fall of 2006, the Arizona Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights Project was selected as one of only 14 partnerships in the U.S. to receive support and technical assistance from the Soros Foundation and the Washington, D.C.-based Family and Corrections Network. Utilizing the Bill of Rights for Children of the Incarcerated (developed in 2003 by the San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership) as their framework, the Project sought to address existing delays in behavioral health services, develop support and resources for caregivers, and promote awareness of the needs of the largely invisible population of children and youth.

The work of the Project ultimately resulted in 10 key recommendations for statewide action with the purposes of significantly improving the lives of children and families throughout Arizona and contributing to breaking the cycle of intergenerational incarceration. These recommendations included establishing arrest guidelines, training law enforcement on the needs of children of incarcerated parents, designating and identifying support resources, and more.

In addition to these recommendations, the National Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents has been adopted by many organizations across the state, including by the Maricopa County Superior Court, to inform and guide their practices when working with children and caregivers who have been impacted by incarcerated family members. The Bill of Rights was derived from interviews and experiences shared by children and families who have experienced parental incarceration, and while not legally binding in Arizona, they do provide every child of a parent in prison (or alternatives to prison) with the following rights:

1. To be kept safe and informed at the time of my parent’s arrest;
2. To be heard when decisions are made about me;
3. To be considered when decisions are made about my parent;
4. To be well-cared for in my parent’s absence;
5. To speak with, see, and touch my parent;
6. To support as I face my parent’s incarceration;
7. To not be judged, blamed or labeled because my parent is incarcerated;
8. To have a lifelong relationship with my parent.

You can find more information here on the work and findings of the Arizona Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights as well as this manual developed by the KARE Family Center of Arizona’s Children Association and the Pima Prevention Partnership’s AZ STARS Collaboration.