Guiding principles

The rights of the child and the principle of the best interests of the child must be respected at all times

Recommendation 1: The specific vulnerabilities of children of incarcerated parents must be considered and taken into account. These children have rights and those rights must be protected. Children should not be discriminated against because of the actions of a member of their family or for any other reason. The best interests of the child must be considered explicitly in all decisions that affect these children (Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 3). These children must be provided with the opportunity for their views to be heard, directly or indirectly, in relation to decisions which may affect them (Article 12).

Guiding principles

Children of parents in conflict with the law require special attention

Recommendation 2: The children of parents in conflict with the law have the same basic needs as any other child, but they face different challenges due to the situation of their parents and, generally speaking, the negative social reaction to persons in conflict with the law and their families. These children are at risk of being ostracized and stigmatized by people around them, being victimized in various ways, or developing behavioral problems (including finding themselves in conflict with the law). These risks are real and should be kept in mind, but not overly dramatized so as to avoid further stigmatizing children. Most importantly, the needs and circumstances of these children must be taken into account to provide them with opportunities comparable to those of other children and parents.

Guiding principles

Do no harm

Recommendation 3: There is unfortunately a risk in directing attention to the challenges faced by a child/children of parents in conflict with the law that it might contribute to their further stigmatization and isolation. It is very important to intervene “lightly”, with proper attention to protecting the privacy of these children, while helping them fight isolation (or worse, association with high-risk groups like a gang). Care must be taken to ensure that no intervention ever contributes directly or indirectly to the stigmatization of these children as “problem children”; they are simply children who need special protection and support. Agency practices should never be detrimental to the physical safety and emotional wellbeing of the children. This requires that a trauma-informed approach be used with children and adults. Situations or processes can raise past experiences of trauma that involved the victimization or potential victimization for both the children and adults.

Guiding principles

The views and voice of the child must be heard

Recommendation 4: At all stages of any intervention, children’s views should be sought, and children’s voices should be heard. Children should be helped to develop a plan for their own care and support. Strategies and processes are required to make sure that children are appropriately informed about what is happening to their parents (when they are separated), and about the decisions that are made that can affect them.

Guiding principles

The centrality of the role of parents

Recommendation 5: Parents play an important role in helping children go through the difficult experience of parental incarceration or conflict with the law. That role, however, is subject to some important caveats relating to the child’s safety, wellness, development, etc. It is important to support, as appropriate, the role of the incarcerated parent from the start of detention and after release.

Recommendation 9: Cooperation among health and child welfare services, the police, correctional officials, officials with responsibility for protecting children and their rights, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations offering support to children and their families, faith-based groups, Indigenous councils, and municipal authorities is required. However, there is no need to “reinvent the wheel”. Communities should make the best use of existing resources and coordination mechanisms. They may need to expand participation in these mechanisms in order to include all those who can play a role in helping this particular group of children.

• Make good use of existing coordination mechanisms.
• As necessary, develop interagency protocols or agreements concerning information sharing and case referrals (with adequate protection for privacy and confidentiality).
• Review existing agreements to determine whether they are sufficient to address the situations of children of parents in conflict with the law.

Practical measures and strategies

Improving ways of identifying the children in need of assistance without further stigmatizing them

Recommendation 10: Everyone in the community (neighbours, friends of the family, teachers, sports coaches, elders, religious figures, police, etc.) potentially has a role to play in making sure that children affected by their parents’ conflict with the law are identified, assisted, and protected. Relying solely on the children to come forward and ask for assistance is not realistic. Relying on the parents to come forward and seek help for their children is not reliable. Parents often fear the intervention of child protection services. In many instances they already have a history of contacts with these services. Finally, relying on the justice system itself to transmit information to child welfare and protection agencies is not sufficient either.

• Proactively seek to identify children in need of assistance, without labelling or stigmatizing them.
• Increase outreach activities to offer support to the children and their caregivers.
• Ensure that people working with or coming in contact with children as part of their professional responsibilities recognize the children’s signs of distress, isolation, need for assistance.
• Improve inter-agency sharing of information concerning the children while protecting their privacy and ensuring the confidentiality of that information.
• Ensure that all agencies and organizations have a proactive child protection policy that acknowledges the particular issues and needs of children who have a key relationship with a parent in conflict with the law.

Practical measures and strategies

Improving information exchange among those who can offer support and assistance to the children

Recommendation 11: One must attempt to facilitate the exchange of information among those agencies, institutions, and services that are able to offer care and assistance to children of parents in conflict with the law. At the same time, the privacy protection measures guiding information exchange must be respected. In that way, organizations are provided with the mandate and capacity to collaborate and share information to provide a continuum of care to the children and their families.

• Remove obstacles that hinder outreach activities and the identification of children of parents in conflict with the law by those who can offer them support and assistance. This may involve re-examining, in the light of the principle of the best interests of the child, any privacy and confidentiality protection measure or other factors hindering information exchange and collaboration among and between agencies and significant community resources. For example, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act can be upheld through individuals and families controlling access to and disclosure of personal information through informed consent.
• Develop interagency protocols regarding the sharing of information in order to facilitate supportive interventions, or review existing cooperation protocols.
• Ensure that interagency protocols clearly specify the situations in which a guardian’s or a family’s permission to share information is not required, for example when there are child and adult protection issues.

Practical measures and strategies

Increasing support for the families

Recommendation 13: The incarceration of one parent often results in various forms of hardship for the rest of the family, particularly the children. Imprisonment disrupts positive, nurturing relationships between many parents—particularly mothers who are often the sole or primary caregiver—and their children. Children and their families suffer economic strain and instability when a parent is imprisoned. Family members are not guilty of anything. All agencies and services involved with the families should try to mitigate the impact on family members at all stages of the criminal justice system, ensuretheir rights are upheld, and ensure they are not discriminated against because of the actions of their family member. Supporting the families and strengthening the children’s positive family connections are necessary to ensure a healthy child development. Different forms of support are needed.

• Encourage the various agencies and services involved with the children to work towards positive family outcomes and to adopt consistent practices in the support of families and positive life outcomes for the children.
• Ensure that families understand the criminal justice process and are aware of the supports available.
• Provide information to families and ensure that the information provided is timely and accurate.
• Encourage and support parents and caregivers to explain procedures, decisions and the truth of the situation to children in an age appropriate manner.
• Ensure that families have access to information and assistance on a range of issues such as housing, benefits and finances, legal issues, health, or childcare.
• Facilitate appropriate contacts between family members and the incarcerated parent.
• Provide guidance to agencies dealing with families of parents in conflict with the law.
• Conduct family impact assessments when new policies and practices are developed that may affect the families of people in conflict with the law.
• Keep incarcerated parents informed about the situation and well-being of their children and other family members, and support them in managing family concerns as appropriate.

Practical measures and strategies

Minimizing the impact of the parents’ contacts with the criminal justice system on the children

Recommendation 16: Decisions concerning the parent in conflict with the law should, wherever possible, consider whether the parent has dependents or responsibilities for the care of children, whether the offender is a sole or primary caregiver, the age and developmental needs of the children involved, and the best interests of each of the children involved. To that end, a number of measures can be taken at each stage of the criminal justice process.