POSTED NOVEMBER 17, 2017, BY THE ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION
Close to six million kids in America have experienced losing a parent to prison or jail at some point in their lives.
Children living in the South and Southwest are more likely to have experienced parental incarceration compared to their peers in other parts of country. In Arkansas — which has the highest proportion of children affected — close to one in five kids have lost a parent to incarceration. Kentucky (15%) and Louisiana (14%), Arizona (13%) and Tennessee (13%) follow closely behind.
The incarceration of a parent can be devastating to a family’s stability and have as much impact on a child’s well-being as abuse or domestic violence. Because of this, states must invest resources to support family members left behind.
Read A Shared Sentence to learn more about the toll of parental incarceration.
Access family and community data on the KIDS COUNT Data Center: