SD10 - Addressing Issues Relating to Children of Incarcerated Parents

  • Published: 1994
  • Author: Department of Criminal Justice Services
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 216 (Regular Session, 1993)

Executive Summary:
Law enforcement officers in the commonwealth make hundreds of arrests every day. Many of these arrests involve the sole caretaker of minor children and while most are two-parent families, there are a growing number of single parents involved in arrest situations. With the dramatic increase in drug-related arrests, we have seen more situations where sole caretakers of minor children are arrested and incarcerated.

As the number of arrests of sole caretakers of minor children increase, particularly among women involved with illegal drug activity, the number of children left without a caretaker likewise increases. Officers are often faced with not only dealing with an arrestee, but also increasingly having to identify and locate care for the children of these arrested parents or guardians. Lacking any universal procedures or training for handling these types of situations, officers are often left to handle the problems on their own or involve other local agency resources. The results of escalating arrest of sole caretakers create not only trauma for the children, but emergency care for these children becomes a critical issue.

It is just as critical that law enforcement officers receive accurate and regular training on dealing with children of incarcerated parents/guardian. Reacting to this growing concern, the 1993 General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution 216, which directs the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) to develop training standards to address these issues. In order to ensure all concerns regarding this topic were considered, the study committee researched local procedures as well as utilizing data from a national study conducted by the American Bar Association, Center on Children and The Law and The Circle, Inc. Based on the committee's findings, several recommendations were made as follows:

Recommendation 1 (Training Directed to General Arrest Situations):

Training should be directed to general arrest situations that occur 95% of the time. The other 5% for special situations such as drug raids, serving search warrants, etc. should be addressed through specialized training programs.

Recommendation 2 (Level of Training Delivery):

Training should be directed at the entry-level for new officers and in-service to cover experienced incumbent officers.

Recommendation 3 (Curricula and Lesson Plan Development):

Model curricula and lesson plans should be developed to effect implementation of any training standards and objectives developed.

Recommendation 4 (Establishment of Interagency Agreements):

Affected local agencies should establish and enter into an interagency agreement spelling out responsibilities and procedures that each agency will follow in these circumstances. All impacted agencies should establish response procedures to minimize any additional paperwork and response time. A model has been developed and will be disseminated upon implementation of these recommendations.

Recommendation 5 (Follow-up Procedures):

Upon voluntary placement of dependent children with an alternate caretaker, follow-up procedures should be initiated to ensure that children receive appropriate and safe care and custody.

Recommendation 6 (Study of Emergency Care of Children):

The General Assembly should initiate a study to identify potential resources for the emergency care of children.

Recommendation 7 (Tracking System Development):

As there is a need to track the number of families impacted by these circumstances, a method of reporting number of children involved when parents are arrested should be initiated. This could be incorporated into the magistrates report or at the jail intake process. However, this process should not result in any additional paperwork or form development, rather it should be incorporated into existing procedures.

Recommendation 8 (Law Enforcement Liability):

The General Assembly should affect legislation that would expressly relieve law enforcement officers of any liability associated with efforts to assist in locating and placing children of arrested and/or incarcerated parents/guardian in temporary emergency care.