Resources from the former CWLA Federal Resource Center for Children of Prisoners:

Other Links and Resources

Contents

1. Information About the Criminal Justice System
2. Information About Contacting Prisons and Prisoners
3. Information About Programs for Incarcerated Parents, their Children and Families
4. Information About Legal Issues
5. Advocating for Children and Families
6. Information About Child Welfare and Criminal Justice Systems Collaboration

• National Criminal Justice Reference Center (NCJRS): NCJRS provides a variety of criminal and juvenile justice information services including access to its document collection of more than 135,000 books, reports, and articles. Call 800/851-3420.
  
   
• Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS): BJS is a primary source for criminal justice statistics in the United States. BJS analyzes, publishes and disseminates data on all aspects of our criminal justice system. Contact BJS by writing to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC 20531, or by calling 202/307-0765.
  
   
• The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1998, edited by Kathleen Maguire and Ann L. Pastore.
  
   
• American Correctional Association (ACA): ACA is an umbrella organization of professionals representing many areas of corrections and criminal justice, including federal, state, and military correctional facilities and prisons; county jails and detention centers; probation/parole agencies; and community corrections/halfway houses. Contact ACA by letter: ACA, 4380 Forbes Blvd., Lanham, MD 20706-4322; by phone: 800/222-5646.

• Directories: The 1999 Directory of Juvenile and Adult Correctional Departments, Institutions, Agencies and Paroling Authorities, April 1999, American Correctional Association, 800/222-5646.
  
   
• Federal Prisons: Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street NW, Washington, DC 20534. For information, call the Office of Public Affairs at 202/307-3198.
  
   
• State Prisons: To contact your state's Department of Corrections, use the government pages in your phone book.
  
   
• Inmate Information:

  Federal: For information about Federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present, call the national Inmate Locator at 202/307-3126. For information about Federal inmates released before 1982, write to the Office of Communications and Archives, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street NW, Washington, DC 20534, Attn: Historic Inmate Locator Request. Include as much identifying information as possible.
  
   

  State: Most state Departments of Corrections have their own locator systems. Contact your state Department of Corrections for specific information.

• Directory of Programs and Organizations: Directory of Programs Serving Families of Adult Offenders, edited by James W. Mustin, available from the National Institute of Corrections, 800/877-1461, provides an extensive state-by-state listing of programs and organizations focused on children and families of offenders.
  
   
• Establishing a Program: For information about establishing a program in your community, contact the Family and Corrections Network (FCN) at 804/589-3036. FCN is a membership organization that provides information about programs serving families of offenders and offers consultation and technical assistance in program development.
  
   
• Program Descriptions:

  Maternal Ties: A Selection of Programs for Female Offenders, Cynthia Blinn, Editor, 1997, American Correctional Association, 800/222-5646, provides descriptions of 14 programs designed to help incarcerated mothers maintain ties with their children.
  
   

  Parents in Prison: Addressing the Needs of Families, James Boudouris, PhD, 1996, American Correctional Association, 800/222-5646, $22.95, provides information from a national survey of prison-based programs for incarcerated mothers and includes personal contacts in prison-based and community-based programs located in prisons across the country.
  
   

• Program Standards: Federal Bureau of Prison's Parenting Program Standards (PS5355.03), January 20, 1995, (includes sample statement of work)
  
   
• Promising Programs: Family-Based Crime Prevention, Lawrence W. Sherman, in Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising, by University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Office of Justice Programs Research Report, February 1997, NCJ 165366, Justice Information Center

• Articles:

  Permanency Planning in the Context of Parental Incarceration: Legal Issues and Recommendations, Philip Genty, Child Welfare, September/October 1998, 543-559.
  
   

  Termination of Parental Rights Among Prisoners, Philip Genty, in Children of Incarcerated Parents, Katherine Gabel and Denise Johnston, Editors, New York: Lexington Books (1995) pp. 167-182.
  
   

  Meeting the Needs of Children of Incarcerated Parents, Ann Metcalf Craig, Child Law Practice, August 1998, American Bar Association's Center on Children and the Law.
  
   

  It's a Family Affair-The Incarceration of the American Family: Confronting Legal and Social Issues, Justin Brooks and Kimberly Bahna, University of San Francisco Law Review, Winter, 1994, Vol. 28, p. 271.
  
   

  Terminating Parental Rights of Incarcerated Parents, Carol Amadio, Chicago Bar Association Record, February 1992.
  
   

  You Can Never Go Home Again: The Florida Legislature Adds Incarceration to the List of Statutory Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights, The Hon. Jean M. Johnson and Christa N. Flowers, Florida State University Law Review, 1998, Vol. 25, p. 335.
  
   

• Statutes:

  Many state statutes addressing termination of parental rights specifically provide that a parent's incarceration or felony conviction may be grounds for termination of parental rights (TPR). The statutes vary considerably in terms of the accompanying factors that must be evaluated in addition to the incarceration itself. It is impossible to catalogue those variations here and, in addition, state laws are subject to change at any time. In general, though, most statutes that include incarceration as possible grounds for TPR are tied to the length of the parent's sentence; the parent's incapacity or failure to plan for the child; the instability of the child's resultant placement; the parent's unfitness to parent; the crime for which the parent was incarcerated and whether the crime victimized the child at issue, a sibling, or another child in the household; or some combination of the previous factors.
  
   

  To review a state-by-state compilation of statutory language providing for termination of parental rights, see the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect

• What Happens to Children?

Advocating for Children and Families

For information about restorative justice, see the University of Minnesota's Center for Restorative Justice & Mediation. This site provides links to many organizations and resources associated with conflict resolution, social justice, community restitution, and other principles of restorative justice.

For information about sentencing issues, contact The Sentencing Project, 918 F Street NW, Suite 501, Washington, DC 20004, 202/628-0871. The Sentencing Project provides resources and information about criminal justice policy and program issues, including those related to alternative sentencing. Policy reports and fact sheets can be downloaded from the website.

Fathers in Prison and their Children: Visiting Policy Guidelines, Creasie Finney Hairston, PhD, Social Policy and Research Notes, March 1996, Jane Addams College of Social Work.

Incarcerated Mothers and the Maintenance of Family Ties, The Subcommittee on Women, Council of the City of New York, City Hall, New York, NY 10007, 212/ 788-7250 (1996). Report summarizes hearing on the ability of incarcerated mothers in New York to maintain a positive relationship with their children. Includes 35 recommendations for improving the maintenance of family ties.

• Partnerships Between Corrections and Child Welfare: Part Two, Collaboration for Change, developed by the Women's Prison Association & Home, Inc., From the Family to Family, Tools for Rebuilding Foster Care series, published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1998, Annie E. Casey Foundation, 701 Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21202, 410/547-6600 (phone), 410/547-6624 (fax).
  
   
• A Guide to New York's Criminal Justice System and A Guide to New York's Child Welfare System, developed by the Women's Prison Association and South Brooklyn Legal Services, Family Law Unit. These guides were designed as cross-training manuals for New York child welfare professionals and criminal justice professionals. For more information, contact the Women's Prison Association, 110 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003, 212/674-1163.
  
   
• Children, Families and Correctional Supervision: Current Policies and New Directions, 1996, Creasie Finney Hairston, PhD, Shonda Wills, MSW, Nancy Wall, MSW. A report on a forum sponsored by the Jane Addams Center for Social Policy and Research that sought to explore the impact of criminal justice and child welfare policies on families affected by incarceration.
  
   
• When a Mother is Arrested: How the Criminal Justice and Child Welfare Systems Can Work Together More Effectively (A Needs Assessment Initiated by the Maryland Department of Human Resources), 1996, prepared by the Women's Prison Association. This needs assessment provides one model for child welfare agencies wishing to enhance services to children with incarcerated parents and to develop more collaborative relationships with the criminal justice system. For more information, contact the Women's Prison Association, 110 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003, 212/674-1163.