Do You Hear the Children Weep?

Children whose Parents are Incarcerated

But the young, young children, O my brothers,
They are weeping bitterly!
They are weeping in the playtime of others
In the country of the free

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Cry of the Children

Have you ever wondered what happens to the children of parents who have been imprisoned? Malathi Das raises our awareness of the predicament these children are in, and tells of their feelings and emotions. She takes a look at the programmes initiated by the different help groups, care centres and organisations, aimed at supporting, counselling and caring for these children. She also appeals to members of the public for their continued and greater efforts to help the children.

A person commits a crime. He or she is arrested, convicted and thrown into prison. Justice is proclaimed for the State; there is retribution for the victim; the prisoner pays for his wrongdoing. End of story.

Not quite.

One of the forgotten victims in this scenario is the prisoner's children.

It is not an uncommon sight, hearing defence counsel in mitigation, citing the family of the convicted person, and the fact of his (or her) young children being reliant on him (or her) for financial support as reasons not to impose a custodial sentence. How often have we said this without really giving much thought to the actual plight of these young family members? Have our courts and prosecutors heard it so often that it has become yet another refrain, to be brushed off as an unfortunate consequence of one's own wrongdoing and a price to pay to keep the rest of society safe.

But just as crime is a community concern, so too the future of our children, regardless of their parentage or the sins of their fathers and mothers.

Moreover, research has indicated that parents' imprisonment could be one of the risk factors causing negative or anti-social behaviour in children.

In actual fact, the trauma that young children go through when their parents are potentially facing incarceration starts much earlier than when sentence is passed, at their first brush with law enforcement agencies, when their parents are arrested. And the encounter with the criminal justice system occurs from then on in a continuum, from arrest, through trial, through incarceration and to release.

To these children, upon arrest, the parent-child separation is sudden, unexpected and unexplained. Some young children witnessing their parents' arrest right before their eyes, are terrified, angry and helpless. Arrest situations can be varied, some more abrupt and violent than others, but in most cases - and understandably - centred on the adult law breaker, with scant, if any, regard for the bystander child. Accounts have been given of a child so traumatised by the arrest that he kept vomiting, or young children wandering around on their own and spotted by neighbours following the arrests of their parents.

In cases where they do not witness the arrest, other family members still try to hide the fact from the children, which only increases their worry and insecurities. This deafening silence often continues into the period of incarceration where a cloud of shame and stigmatisation hangs over the families of offenders that prevents any mention of the offender's status as a criminal. This leads to children not being told or given false information about their parents.

Other issues which result come from the movement of children from one home to another and the ensuing impoverished conditions they tend to face, even after their parents' release.

However, children of incarcerated parents are not traditionally identified as a population requiring specific informational, counselling or other supportive services. But the fact remains that these children find themselves in disempowering situations upon one or both parents being incarcerated, and early intervention in a family spiral of hopelessness which may lead to potential anti-social behaviour, such as crime or addiction, is crucial.

A recent report by sociologist Goh Siang Sin, 'Supporting Children and Families of Women Prisoners and Drug Inmates' offers descriptive data and discussion on children's experiences of parental incarceration from arrest to release. The study was commissioned by Save the Children Singapore ('STCS'), in collaboration with the Singapore Prisons Department.

Quite apart from highlighting the plight of children facing difficulties, the report holds a story of how people like ourselves, who are players in the criminal justice system, can help alleviate the suffering of children by being aware of the problems they face, and by being empowered with the knowledge of the agencies and projects available to enhance the lives of the children of prisoners.

Two such projects are the Play-and-Wait ('PAW') programme for children visiting prisons or drug rehabilitation centres, and the Parenting Workshop for incarcerated mothers. PAW is a joint project between the Singapore Prisons Department and STCS, spearheaded by the latter. Its target group is children between five and 12 years of age, and it aims to help children get in touch with their feelings through programmes specially designed for them, and express themselves without fear of humiliation, in a warm and structured environment. It also encourages the children to write to their fathers and mothers in prison and prepares the children for their parent's homecoming.

Yayasan MENDAKI was the first organisation to take up STCS's invitation to take over the PAW programme. Shortly after that, it was joined by the Salvation Army Changi Corps and Community Centre. There are presently two cabins, the Tanah Merah Prison Cabin, and the Moon Crescent Prison Cabin. Other centres are at Changi's Women's Prison and Drug Rehabilitation Centre and Selarang Park DRC. Both agencies have the capacity to manage family casework, and use the PAW programme as a contact point from which cases which require continued help will be referred to their family service centres, hence providing a direct link for the children from the PAW programme to community-based agencies.

Given the breadth of the programme, partnership between different voluntary organisations has been essential to attain a holistic approach in rehabilitation programmes for such disadvantaged families.

Another relevant organisation which has been in existence since as far back as 1935, albeit then known as a Prisoner's Aid Society, is the Singapore After-Care Association ('SACA'). SACA is a voluntary welfare organisation affiliated with the National Council of Social Service ('NCSS').

SACA is the key agency providing welfare and rehabilitation services to prisoners and their families and has, as its mission, the re-integration of discharged prisoners into society. To the extent that it has as its vision and objective, to help the families of prisoners cope with their incarceration and deal with problems arising from their incarceration, SACA plays an important role in the lives of children with incarcerated parents.

Cases referred from the Singapore Prisons Department for family assistance and other referrals from external agencies as well as walk-in cases, are attended to by full-time After-care officers under SACA's Centre-Based Casework and Counselling arm. Services rendered under this programme include counselling services for families of inmates to help them cope with the trauma arising from incarceration.

Home visits are often undertaken when, for example, it is inconvenient for the wife of a prisoner to attend at the Centre because she has no money or very young children to take care of. Where funds are available, financial aid is also given to clients and their families who face dire financial difficulties. In particular, education grants are given to deserving hardship cases (both inmates and children of inmates) to help them pay for examination fees, books and study materials. Family financial assistance is also provided where the main breadwinner is imprisoned and assistance is required to help a family alleviate its hardship and supplement its financial requirements.

The efforts of existing agencies are commendable, but it has been mooted that apart from providing immediate services to children and families of prisoners at the time of the visit, one priority for service development is for outreach work to create links with support networks comprising the different statutory and voluntary agencies in the community where the prisoner's families live. Ideally, a nationwide database on contact organisations should be kept to facilitate continued support and more focused referrals.

Let us also as members of the community, in the confines of our own agencies, amidst the hustle and bustle of our daily routine, spare a thought for these children and raise our efforts to help these children maintain ties with their parents, even whilst they are behind bars.

And let it not be said, for the momentary period when the children are without direct parental support, that they are mere orphans of justice, weeping in the playtime of others.

Malathi Das
Palakrishnan & Partners

I would like to extend my deep appreciation to: Mrs Lynda Soh of the Salvation Army, Ms Zulaiha Yusuf of Yayasan MENDAKI and Ms Suma Govindan of SACA for answering my queries and providing me with the materials for this paper in double quick time; Save the Children Singapore and Ms Goh Siang Sin whose report opened my eyes to the plight of these children; and my colleague Benedict Tan whose personal efforts at helping two children in a like situation, inspired this article, which I hope serves as an aid to awareness.