Child-care workers, teachers, and counselors need to be trained to recognize and address the far-reaching impact that parental incarceration can have on children’s educational experience, says a report by Justice Strategies, a New York-based nonprofit organization that conducts research on criminal justice and immigration.
Children with parents in prison are much more likely to have failing grades in school than friends whose parents aren’t in prison, according to the report. It cites research showing that 45 percent of children with incarcerated parents had failing grades, compared with 20 percent of a control group made up of “best friends” whose parents weren’t in prison.
