Promising and Innovative Practices
for Children of Incarcerated Parents:
Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
Webinar, June 3rd
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through PreAdjudication
Session 1: Parental Arrest Protocols
 Gregory Suhr, chief of police, San Francisco Police Department
 Samara Marion, policy attorney, San Francisco Office of Citizen Complaints
 Jill Brant, legal services supervisor, Allegheny County Department of Human
Services/Office of Children, Youth and Families
 Questions
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
Chief Gregory P. Suhr
San Francisco Chief of Police
chiefsuhr@sfgov.org
415.837.7000
Acting Captain Ed Santos
Special Victims Unit
edward.santos@sfgov.org
415.553.9826
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
• The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) has long
recognized both the immediate and lasting negative
consequences that a parental arrest can have on a
child.
• The SFPD, along with other city agencies and
community stakeholders, developed a
comprehensive policy that prioritizes the physical
and emotional well-being of children at the scene of
a parental arrest.
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
Specific impact on children:
• As of 2010, approximately 2.7 million children under the age
of 18 in the United States had a parent incarcerated in jail or
prison.[1]
• Parental incarceration is now recognized as an “Adverse
Childhood Experience (ACE)” which increases a child’s risk of
negative outcomes in childhood and adulthood.
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
• Effects of ACEs on children include:
health problems; memory loss; cognitive
and emotional impairment; early initiation
of sexual activity; adolescent pregnancy
and substance abuse. [2]
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
• Effects of ACE on adults include:
alcoholism; depression; illegal drug use;
domestic violence and other criminal
behavior; health-related problems; and
suicide.[3]
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
Why law enforcement agencies should have a comprehensive
policy:
• As law enforcement officers, we have a sworn obligation and
a moral responsibility to protect a child’s physical and mental
health.
• Unless handled in just the right way, law enforcement officers
run the risk of victimizing an already distraught child after a
parental arrest for a second time.
• We can mitigate the negative impacts of a parental arrest on a
child, including avoiding the unnecessary placement of the
child into the child welfare system. [4]
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
Why law enforcement agencies should have a
comprehensive policy (continued):
• A policy demonstrates an agency’s respect for the parent-child
relationship. Most children want a relationship with their
parents, regardless of the reason for the arrest.
• Improved relationships between the law enforcement agency
and children, parents and the community at large.
• Increased collaboration between the law enforcement agency
and the child welfare system to improve the lives of
children impacted by a parental arrest. [5]
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
Advice on developing policy: [6]
• Take a collaborative approach and work with other city
agencies and community based organizations.
• Allow the working group to define the desired outcomes
appropriate for your community.
• Use model policies or other agencies’ policies as guides, but
remember to incorporate your community’s desired
outcomes into the policy.
• Implementing the policy can be the most challenging step.
Innovative implementation strategies can help officers be
more accepting of a new policy.
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
Final thoughts:
• Developing a policy to protect the children of arrested parents
is the right thing to do. These children are the unintended
victims of their parents’ arrests.
• While a policy like this may increase the time officers are on a
call for service, the positive implications for the children can
be life-changing.
• Ms. Katie Albright, Executive Director of the San Francisco
Child Abuse Prevention Center, reminds us that “any time we
don’t take time to help a child now, we are committing a
crime against our future.”
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through Pre-Adjudication
References:
[1] The Pew Charitable Trust: Pew Center on the States, Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on
Economic Mobility (Washington, D.C.: 2010) 18-19.
[2] http://captus.samhsa.gov/prevention-practice/targeted-prevention/adverse-childhoodexperiences and http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/findings.html
[3] International Association of Chiefs of Police and Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department
of Justice, Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents, 2014, 1, and Adverse Childhood Experience
(ACE) Study, Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
[4] Ginny Puddefoot and Lisa Foster, Keeping Children Safe When Their Parents are Arrested: Local
Approaches That Work (California Research Bureau, July 2007), 30.
[5] Ibid., 3.
[6] Rachael Kilshaw, “Protecting Children of Arrested Parents: Steps for Developing and
Implementing an Effective Policy,” The Police Chief 82 (January 2015): 52-55.
Thank you!
Civilian Oversight Agencies As Bridge-Builders:
Collaborating With Communities & Police On
Parent Arrest Procedures
Samara Marion, Policy Attorney, Office of Citizen Complaints
samara.marion@sfgov.org; 415-241-7726
www.sfgov.org/occ
The Role Civilian Oversight Agencies
Can Play
• Over 200 civilian oversight of law
enforcement agencies in the US
• Oversight agencies can collaborate
with community organizations and
law enforcement to enhance policecommunity relations.
Types of Bridge Building
• Civilian oversight agencies have contact
with families of incarcerated and
organizations that assist them.
• Receive & investigate complaints about
children’s treatment during parent’s
arrest.
• Make policy and training
recommendations to enhance policecommunity relations.
Types of Bridge Building
• Civilian oversight agencies know
the steps to change police
procedures.
• Can identify allies within a
police department.
• Can provide continuity and be
part of the sustained effort.
San Francisco Children of
Incarcerated Parents Partnership
(SFCIPP) developed a parent arrest
policy with San Francisco Police Dept
in 2007.
The policy:
Requires officers to ask ALL
arrestees whether they have a
dependent child under 18 years
old.
Instructs officers to look for signs at
the scene that an arrestee has a
child.
Permits arrested parents to arrange
for the care of their children.
Permits arrested parents to reassure
their children and say good-bye.
Instructs officers to explain the
reason for arrest and reassure the
child that both parent and child will
be cared for when it is unsafe to
permit a parent to do so.
Instructs officers to handcuff parents
outside the presence of their
children.
Requires officers to consider ages
and likely location of children when
executing an arrest or search
warrant.
Role of Office of Citizen Complaints
in parent arrest policy:
• Recommended & drafted
permanent policy.
• Helped produce officer training that
includes youths’ perspective.
• Recommended & drafted incident
report changes for easier
documentation.
Thank you!
Allegheny County Arrest Protocol
Pittsburgh, PA
Jill M. Brant, Esq.
jbrant@alleghenycounty.us
1
How we began…
• Stakeholders Meeting
• Task Force
– DA and Public Defender
– Children’s Hospital
– Child Welfare
– Police
– Courts
2
The purpose…
• Consistent Response, that:
– Ensures Safety
– Minimizes Trauma
– Reduces System Involvement
– Link Families to Services
3
Elements…
• Thoughtful Police Action During
Arrest
• Caregiver Selection Intact for
Parents
• Comfort Place
– Temporary
– Community-Based
– Alternative to Child Welfare Call
4
Challenges…
• Budget Concerns
• Belief that it was Inherently
Unmanageable
• Allowing Parents to Keep Authority
• Culture of Police Force
• Not Enough Data to Make Our Case
• Securing 24/7 Community-Based
Comfort Place
5
Next Steps…
• Community Outreach
• Continued Training using
Technology
• Focus on New Recruits
• Data Collection
• True Formalization of Protocol
6
Thank you!
Questions
Session 1 wrap up
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through PreAdjudication
Session 2: Family Impact Statements
 Wendy Still, former chief adult probation officer, San Francisco Adult
Probation Department
 Patricia Donohue, juvenile operations and training director, New York State
Division of Criminal Justice Services, Office of Probation and Correctional
Alternatives
 Questions
Family Impact
Statements
Wendy Still, MAS
Chief Adult Probation Officer, retired
City and County of San Francisco
still4@aol.com
What is a Family Impact
Statement?


Component of Pre-Sentence
Recommendation to the Court
What information is contained in the
FIS?
Why is a Family Impact
Statement Important?

Family can be a critical rehabilitative
motivating factor

Aligned with Evidence Based Practices

One Component of a Family Focused
Probation Supervision Strategy
How to Implement FIS

Provide Deputy Probation Officers Training

Re-format Pre-sentence Report

Educate Courts, DA, Public Defender

Quality control FIS-Supervisor, Independent
review
CHALLENGES

Organizational Culture

Criminal Justice System Culture
– Punishment versus Rehabilitation


Overcome with Education, training,
skill building
Measure and Report Results to staff
and stakeholders
Thank you!
Patricia M. Donohue
Patricia.Donohue@dcjs.ny.gov
Office of Probation and
Correctional Alternatives (OPCA)
NYS DCJS OPCA
Fundamentals of Probation Practice Training
•
88.5/13 day training for all new probation officers in NYS
•
Covers all aspects of probation-intake, investigations, supervision, adult
and juvenile
•
Pre-sentence Investigations module is 8.5 hours long
•
OPCA worked with Council of Probation Administrators (COPArepresents 58 county probation directors) to infuse concept of Family
Responsibility into FPP training for Pre-Sentence Investigations
•
Family Responsibility was chosen instead of Family Impact, as in
NYS there is statutory requirement for a Victim Impact Statement and
probation felt that another impact statement would take away from the
victim piece
•
Felt it was easier to infuse concepts into training than tackle statutory or
regulatory reform
NYS DCJS OPCA
Fundamentals of Probation Practice Training
•
Statewide workgroup met over several months to make edits to
Investigations module, finding places throughout curriculum where
Family Responsibility applied:
– During investigation process
• interview with offender
• collateral contacts to verify information (employer, family, child
support)
– During writing of report
• Social Circumstances (parenting responsibilities, fiscal
responsibilities, child support)
• Recommendation for sentence (providing the court and future
users of Pre Sentence Report the info that would impact
incarceration or probation or parole supervision)
NYS DCJS OPCA
Fundamentals of Probation Practice Training
•
Pre-Sentence Investigations training focuses on offenders’ family and
parenting responsibilities, both financially and relationally, regardless of
what ultimate case disposition should occur -probation, jail, or prison
•
Webinar held early 2014 to introduce new module and concept of
Family Responsibility in Pre Sentence Investigations
•
Training debuted spring 2014 and is how all new probation officers in
New York State are taught to interview and write Pre-Sentence reports
Thank you!
Questions
Session 2 wrap up
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through PreAdjudication
Session 3: Family-Focused Jail Services
 Amy Kroll, administrator of re-entry, Allegheny County Jail and Amanda
Ludwig, family support specialist, Family Services of Western Pennsylvania
 Sarah Carson, One Family program director, Community Works West
 Questions
Development of Family Support
 Allegheny County Jail Collaborative and Department of
Human Services in 2009
 Pittsburgh Community focus groups
 Allegheny County Jail Inmate focus groups
 10 different foundations in the Pittsburgh community,
led by Parent & Child Guidance Foundation, gave
feedback
 Secured Robert Wood Johnson grant to begin
implementation in 2010
Implementation of Family Support
 Built the Re-entry Center in the Allegheny County Jail
in 2011
 Contracted with family-serving agency to operate the
family support component
 2 Family Support Specialists
 Child/Family Engagement Specialist
 Family Therapist
 Contracted with an array of program providers for
services that build parenting and other skills that are
crucial to successful re-entry—both in the jail and in
the community
Family Support Program
 Our strategy for reducing the harm to children from their
parents’ repeated incarceration is to build a strong Reentry
Program so that parents in the Jail develop the skills and
gain the family support that they need to establish stable
lives for themselves and their children.
 Goal: to repair and strengthen the bond between families
and reduce the amount of children affected by parental
incarceration by reducing recidivism rates
 Target: Mothers and Fathers who have the greatest
likelihood of returning to jail without support, treatment,
or other help
Key Components
 Key Components
 Parenting Classes

Gender-specific, Evidence-based curriculum
 Relationship Classes
 Weekly Facilitated Phone Calls
 Monthly Contact Visitation with children and families
 Services in jail and community

Family support, D&A group education, general education, aftercare,
thinking for a change, housing assistance, life skills, job
development, technology training, job search, mentoring, culinary
arts training, masonry, machining, welding, roofing, D&A
counseling
Program Objectives:
 Reduce the number of children who experience the re-
incarceration of a parent. (Annual Target: 200 parents
who are in the Jail; 300 children)
 Strengthen the bonds between parents in the jail and
their children.
 Reduce the chaos and upset that children experience
because their parents are in jail.
 Help to ensure that children and families are getting
the tangible services and support that they need.
Challenges
 Leadership Transition
 Culture Change
 Program structure
 Reluctance of some families
Thank you!
Sarah West Carson, LCSW
Program Director, One Family, Community Works
Scarson@communityworkswest.org
www.communityworkswest.org
About One Family
Family strengthening for incarcerated parents
and their children
• Fostering connection leads to greater insight and investment
in personal change
• Decreases feelings of worthlessness & hopelessness
• Increases future focused thinking
• Decreases stigma & trauma symptoms for
both parent and child.
Program Components
The path through One Family
Unique Components
Crucial Components
Program must be beyond reproach:
• Consistency
• Searching with Care
• Transport with Control
• Safety and Security
Because of our attention to these details, we are now able to
offer contact visits with no deputized staff in the visiting room.
Addressing Challenges
• Limited access to family unit
• The ever changing guard
• Space for kids in a correctional
enviornment
Tips for Starting
The troubles of
me not being able
to see my father
are exhausting. No
matter what, it’s
worth it to see my
dad.
– Kmani
I didn’t know how to feel. I
didn’t understand why
exactly my parents had to
go, but knowing that I
could visit them and that
they’d be back soon kept
me from breaking down
completely.
– Jana
Thank you!
Questions
Session 3 wrap up
Promising and Innovative Practices for Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest through PreAdjudication
Session 4: Successful Collaboration
 Nell Bernstein, former chair, San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents
 Tanya Krupat, program director, New York Initiative for Children of
Incarcerated Parents, The Osborne Association
 Questions
Nell Bernstein
nellbernstein.com
Author, Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison and All Alone in the
World: Children of the Incarcerated
Former Chair, San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership
How does parental arrest and
incarceration affect children?
“They arrested her and
just left us there”
10
Million
children have
experienced parental
incarceration
“What would have helped
me most is compassion
for my mom”
“Take her away from me,
now you’re hurting me”
1/8
African American
children has a parent
behind bars.
70%
Of children who were present
at a parent’s arrest watched
him/her being handcuffed
“Am I in this
world by myself?”
What can be done about it?
Talk about these issues collaboratively
 Public agencies (police, probation/parole, jail
administrators, sheriff, public defender, DA, child
welfare, schools)
 Community based groups
 Children/parents/families
San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents
Partnership (SFCIPP)
The COIP Bill of Rights
I have the right to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
be kept safe and informed at the time of my parent’s arrest
be heard when decisions are made about me
be considered when decisions are made about my parent
be well cared for in my parent’s absence
speak with, see and touch my parent
support as I face my parent’s incarceration
not to be judged, blamed or labeled
a lifelong relationship with my parent
Rights to Realities Initiative
Parental
Arrest
Protocols
I have the right to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
be kept safe and informed at the time of my parent’s arrest
be heard when decisions are made about me
be considered when decisions are made about my parent
be well cared for in my parent’s absence
Family Impact
speak with, see and touch my parent
Statements
support as I face my parent’s incarceration
not to be judged, blamed or labeled
Parent-child
a lifelong relationship with my parent contact visits
What’s next?
What still needs to be done to ensure that children's
needs are met and their rights respected when a
parent is arrested and/or incarcerated?
From Rights to Realities: What's next for children of
incarcerated parents?
Thank you!
New York Initiative for Children of
Incarcerated Parents
Tanya Krupat, Program Director
tkrupat@osborneny.org
(718) 637-6595
Our Vision
We envision a world in which children whose
parents are involved in the criminal justice
system are considered- and their needs
safeguarded- at every step of the criminal
justice process.
Our approach
• Collaborative: we work with the systems we want
to change
• Build Partnerships: we convene CBOs, FBOs,
researchers, and government agencies
• Raise awareness: we generate materials to
disseminate knowledge and dispel myths
• Capacity-building: through training and TA, we
strengthen individuals, organization’s and
system’s ability to competently respond to
children
• Advocacy: we advocate for policy change & work
with multi-level stakeholders
Advocacy Priorities
• Child-sensitive arrest
• Family Impact Statements
• Proximity & Visiting
• Building capacity within schools, child welfare,
mental health, Family Court to address needs
• Data Collection & Research
• Cross-systems coordination and accountability
Strategy for Collaborative
Partnerships
•
•
•
•
•
•
Quarterly partnership meetings
Bi-annual site visits to prisons
Monthly Steering Committee calls
New member orientation & Guiding Principles
Training and technical assistance
Weekly email updates and synthesis of research
and latest news
• Partner satisfaction and feedback surveys
• Partner voting on annual priorities
Successes/ Accomplishments
• Now consist of more than 65 government agencies and
community-based organizations
• New partners join us each quarterly meeting
• Involved with work at the City, State and national levels
• In 2015 we launched an upstate partners collaborative
to engage upstate entities
• Working with NYPD (NYC) and Albany Police
Department and IACP/ BJA Department to implement
children of arrested parents protocols
• Successfully worked with State Probation to include
Family Responsibility Statements in training
Challenges
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Getting work done in between meetings
Expectations of partner participation
Setting realistic goals/ priorities
Partnering with systems trying to change- sometimes take
stances against them
Helping to build the capacity of partners so we move closer
to our goal of infusion
Ensuring youth voices are included and guide/advise our
efforts (keep us honest and relevant)
Collaborative of professionals versus grassroots organizing
Being truly statewide
Opportunities
• Raising awareness
• National acknowledgement / context of
criminal justice issues
• Make connections with issues that are
priorities
• Infuse this into already existing reforms and
initiatives
• Relentlessly, consistently, and respectfully
advocating
Thank you!
Questions
Session 4 wrap up