We are committed to being as informed and connected as possible to better address the challenges facing children of inmates and their families. Below are links to resources and research about this community. If you learn of any new, helpful information, we hope you will share it with us!
Other Agencies Serving Children and Families of the Incarcerated:
Angel Tree Ministries: A nation-wide program of Prison Fellowship, Angel Tree reaches out to the children of prisoners and their families with the love of Christ. This unique program gives you an opportunity to share God’s love by helping to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the families of prisoners. Angel Tree is Kidz2Leaders’ leading partner in referring children to our programs.
Forever Family: Supports families of the incarcerated by facilitating visitation between children and their incarcerated parent at certain prisons in Georgia, as well as offers various out-of-school educational activities.
HeartBound Ministries: Supports and equips the work of Georgia prison chaplains and provides programs and resources to meet the needs of the prison community, including correctional staff, inmates, and their families.
Big Brother Big Sister of Metro Atlanta: Provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported, one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. BBBS of Atlanta specifically offers one-on-one mentoring for children of inmates.
Research and Resources:
Having an incarcerated parent is listed as an Adverse Childhood Experience by the Center for Disease Control, putting these children at risk for a number of mental and physical health challenges later in life.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation examines the toll parental incarceration takes of children, families, and communities. They state, “Having a parent incarcerated is a stressful, traumatic experience of the same magnitude of abuse and domestic violence.”
This article from the Huffington Post analyzes the nation-wide cost of incarceration.
The American Camp Association provides research on the impact of camp on healthy child development.
Angel Tree Ministries provides insight on FAQs related to children of inmates.
The Georgia Department of Corrections provides these resources for families and friends of the incarcerated.
Youth.gov is the U.S. government website that helps you create, maintain, and strengthen effective youth programs. Included on this website are youth facts, funding information, and tools to help you assess community assets, generate maps of local and federal resources, search for evidence-based youth programs, and keep up-to-date on the latest, youth-related news. Follow this link to the topic of children of incarcerated parents.
