A new report shows the impact of incarcerated parents on children in Kentucky. Officials with Kentucky Youth Advocates say one out of ten Kentucky children have had a parent incarcerated at some point in their lives. The goal of the report is the look at current practices are out there in facilities that are supporting children and families.
Tara Grieshop-Goodwin is the lead researcher on the report. In an interview with Eastern Standard, she said losing a parent to prison or jail is hard on a child.
“The fact that their parent has done something wrong doesn’t change the fact that they love and care about them. When a child is separated from their parent that does create a trauma. There is a lot of research that suggest that helping children maintain that connection is really important to helping kids overcome that trauma.”
Grieshop-Goodwin said they conducted a survey of those in prison. She said many would like to see more programs to connect children to their parents.
“One of the quotes we received from somebody who filled out the survey, I think really summarizes it well, the person said “please support anything that would make visiting or talking to children easier. My child was my motivation to do better, and he needed me more than I realized during the time I was away.”
There is more with Tara Grieshop-Goodwin from Kentucky Youth Advocates and Wendi Hall from Save the Children in Perry County coming up later this week on Eastern Standard on WEKU.
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