This report is the latest in a series based on the 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities. Results of the survey show that in 1999 state and federal prisons held an estimated 721,500 parents of minor children. A majority of state (55 percent) and federal (63 percent) prisoners reported having a child under the age of 18. Forty-six percent of the parents reported living with their children prior to incarceration. The survey estimates that 336,300 U.S. households with minor children are affected by the imprisonment of a resident parent. The parents reported having…
The Children's Commission of Queensland in Australia is working with the Queensland Government's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board to strengthen Indigenous families affected by the incarceration of a father. Indigenous people are imprisoned at a rate that is 13 times that of the non-Indigenous population. Many of the incarcerated men are fathers with children who experience the grief of parental separation, financial difficulties, and social stigma from the community. Recognizing that attempts to support Indigenous people must be designed in the context of cultural…
The commissioner of the first independent commission on children in Australia, established in Queensland in 1996, presents an overview of the agency's child and family welfare efforts and describes a new program to encourage support for fathers. The aim of the Focus on Fathering Project is to increase understanding about the importance of fathers in children's lives and to promote fathering education and support programs. The program takes a multidisciplinary approach to the problems of fatherless children and high-risk families, with a strong educational aspect and a research component to…
