BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SCR 20|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SCR 20
Author: Liu (D)
Amended: 5/28/09
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 4-0, 5/5/09
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Florez, Leno
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights
SOURCE : Community Works
Friends Outside
DIGEST : This resolution encourages designated entities
to distribute the Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of
Rights to children of incarcerated parents, and to invite
discussion and encourage relevant departments to use the
Bill of Rights as a framework for analysis and
determination of procedures when making decisions about
services for these children.
ANALYSIS :
This resolution states that as many as one in ten children
have a parent who is in jail, prison, or on parole or
probation.
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This resolution states that over the last 15 years, federal
and state governments have expanded and lengthened criminal
sentences, particularly for drug offenses, incarcerating an
increasing number of adults.
This resolution declares that an unintended consequence of
this rapid increase in adult incarceration has been the
growing number of children whose parents are, or have been,
in jail or prison.
This resolution states that the California sample of a
national survey found that two-thirds of the state's prison
inmates and 79 percent of the state's female prison inmates
were parents, with an average of 2.5 children for the men
and 2.9 children for the women.
This resolution declares that state law provides very
limited direction on how criminal justice authorities
should interact with the families and children of
prisoners.
This resolution states that studies indicate that
maintaining family bonds during incarceration reduces
recidivism for parents and improves outcomes for children.
This resolution notes that the San Francisco Children of
Incarcerated Parents Partnership (SFCIPP) has developed a
bill of rights for children of incarcerated parents and has
turned it into a resolution for the city.
This resolution outlines in detail the content of the bill
of rights of the San Francisco Children of Incarcerated
Parents Partnership.
This resolution encourages the State Department of Social
Services, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,
the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson, schools,
relevant nonprofit organizations, law enforcement agencies,
and other departments that interact with children of
incarcerated parents to distribute the Bill of Rights
created by the San Francisco Children of Incarcerated
Parents Partnership to identified children of incarcerated
parents, utilizing available funds.
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This resolution further encourages these entities to invite
discussion and encourage relevant departments to use the
Bill of Rights as a framework for analysis and
determination of procedures when making decisions about
services for the children of incarcerated parents.
Background
Over the past eight years the California Research Bureau
has issued a series of reports focusing on California law
as it relates to the lives of incarcerated prisoners and
their children. (See Children of Incarcerated Parents,
Charlene Wear Simmons, CRB Note Vol. 7, No. 2, March 2000;
Children of Arrested Parents: Strategies to Improve Their
Safety and Well-Being, Clare M. Nolan, CRB 03-011, July
2003; California State Prisoners With Children: Findings
from the 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal
Correctional Facilities, M. Anne Powell, M.S.W., CRB
03-014, November 2003.) The reports have highlighted the
state's lack of clear policies and laws on how criminal
justice authorities, as well as the child welfare system,
should respond to circumstances and issues raised by
incarcerated parents and their children. As explained in
the reports, there are profound social, mental, and health
implications for children whose parents are incarcerated.
These problems have become even more pressing as the
state's prison population, particularly the female
population, continues to increase dramatically.
In 2003, SFCIPP published a Bill of Rights for children of
incarcerated parents. The Bill of Rights relies in part on
the research conducted by the California Research Bureau,
as well as interviews conducted with individuals who have
experienced parental incarceration.
The SFCIPP Bill of Rights
The San Francisco CIPP Bill of Rights sets forth the
following principles:
1. The child has the right to be kept safe and informed at
the time of his/her parent's arrest. Actions to realize
this right include, but are not limited to, developing
arrest protocols that support and protect children, and
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offering the children and their caregivers basic
information about the post arrest process.
2. The child has the right to be heard when decisions are
made about him/her. Actions to realize this right
include, but are not limited to, training staff at
institutions whose constituency includes children of
incarcerated parents, and telling the truth and
listening to these children.
3. The child has the right to be considered when decisions
are made about his/her parent. Actions to realize this
right include, but are not limited to, reviewing current
sentencing law in terms of its impact on children and
families, including a family impact statement in
presentence investigation reports, and turning an arrest
into an opportunity for family preservation.
4. The child has the right to be well cared for in his/her
parent's absence. Actions to realize this right
include, but are not limited to, supporting children by
supporting their caretakers, and offering subsidized
guardianship.
5. The child has the right to speak with, see, and touch
his/her parent. Actions to realize this right include,
but are not limited to, providing access to visiting
rooms that are child-centered, nonintimidating, and
conducive to bonding, considering proximity to family
when siting prisons and assigning prisoners, and
encouraging child welfare departments to facilitate
contact.
6. The child has the right to support as he/she faces a
parent's incarceration. Actions to realize this right
include, but are not limited to, training adults who
work with young people to recognize the needs and
concerns of children whose parents are incarcerated,
providing access to specially trained therapists,
counselors, and mentors, allocating five percent of the
corrections budget to support prisoners' families.
7. The child has the right not to be judged, blamed, or
labeled because his/her parent is incarcerated. Actions
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to realize this right include, but are not limited to,
creating opportunities for these children to communicate
with and support each other, creating "a truth fit to
tell," and considering differential response when a
parent is arrested.
8. The child has a right to a lifelong relationship with
his/her parent. Actions to realize this right include,
but are not limited to, reexamining the federal Adoption
and Safe Families Act of 1997, designating a family
services coordinator at prisons and jails, supporting
incarcerated parents on reentry, and focusing on
rehabilitation and alternatives to incarceration.
These rights encompass important policy goals that will
help assure that children's fundamental needs for safety,
security, and support are met while their parents are
incarcerated. Children of incarcerated parents are often
just victims of circumstance, and public policy is best
served by ensuring that they are not ignored, neglected,
stigmatized, or deprived of a relationship with their
parent(s).
This resolution does not mandate the use of the SFCIPP Bill
of Rights, but rather encourage relevant state departments,
agencies, and organizations to distribute the Bill of
Rights to children of incarcerated parents. It also
encourages these entities to use the Bill of Rights to
foster discussion, and as a framework for analysis and
determination of procedures when making decision about
services for children of incarcerated parents.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/27/09)
Community Works (co-source)
Friends Outside (co-source)
Arkansas Voices for the Children Left Behind, Inc.
Building Better Bridges
Community Works
Contribute
John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes
Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc.
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National Bill of Rights Policy Partnership for Children of
the Incarcerated
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office states, when a
parent is incarcerated their children become unintended
victims. The trauma of an arrest event and the resulting
parent-child separation can have a profound effect on a
child's development, lasting well into adulthood. Child
difficulties include: difficulty sleeping, poor school
performance, truancy, use of alcohol or drugs, delinquency,
and an increased likelihood of becoming an inmate later in
life. Although this is an identified at-risk population,
California does little to protect the rights of the child
and mediate the impact of having an incarcerated parent.
RJG:do 5/27/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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