Children in the child welfare system are disproportionately children of color; have families struggling with complex problems related to poverty, domestic violence, and substance abuse; and are at risk for health, mental health, and developmental problems. ^[1]   Need different cite? Formerly "children of incarcerated parents, like most children in the child welfare system" Child welfare programs deal with overwhelming caseloads, high staff turnover, poor information management systems, and limited resources. ^[2]   Judicial dockets are similarly strained: courts lack sufficient resources and tools to improve oversight of child welfare cases; and parents, foster parents, and children often lack quality legal representation. ^[3]   Parents and foster parents report that they have trouble getting information and having a sufficient voice in decision-making. ^[4]   At the same time, children and families often do not receive the services they need. ^[5]   Critics find that the child welfare funding and program structure is inflexible and encourages over-reliance on the placement of children in foster care. ^[6]  

Given all of these concerns, the child welfare system should improve service delivery to children and families, including those with incarcerated parents, in a number of ways:

• Many experts agree that child welfare financing should be reprioritized at the federal level so that it encourages more individualized, family-centered, preventative, and innovative services to children and families, instead of focusing resources so heavily on foster care placements. ^[7]  
• Court resources should be allocated to improve judicial oversight of child welfare cases, parental access to judicial proceedings and mediation, effective collaboration with child welfare agencies, improved training, and accountability for child outcomes. ^[8]  
• Policies to encourage kinship care arrangements, which entail placement of children with relatives instead of an unknown foster family, should be adopted by the child welfare program. Such placements can help parents and children who are separated from each other maintain their relationship, while providing some stability for children. ^[9]  
• The program should improve supportive services to kinship families, as well as non-relative foster families. ^[10]   Such services include mental health, substance abuse treatment, parenting courses, employment services, housing aid, and financial assistance.
• The child welfare service mandate should be expanded to include and improve services specifically designed for families of incarcerated parents. Further, the program should improve data collection and develop a research agenda focused on children with incarcerated parents. ^[11]  
• The child welfare program should collaborate with corrections departments to provide families of incarcerated parents with needed supports; facilitate visits and other contact between incarcerated parents and their children whenever feasible and prudent; and help families plan for re-entry. ^[12]   (See Policy Statement 13, Children and Families, and Policy Statement 23, Victims, Families, and Communities, for more on facilitation of family relationships during an individual's incarceration and transition period).
• Permanency planning for the children of incarcerated parents should take into account the special challenges of these families, including lengthy prison sentences that often exceed statutory time frames for presumptive termination of parental rights. (See Epilogue for more on federal restrictions for re-entering parents.) Child welfare programs should make reasonable efforts to encourage reunification where appropriate. Incarcerated parents, like all parents, should be given a fair opportunity to participate in permanency planning and judicial proceedings. ^[13]  

The child welfare program and the criminal justice system share many of the same families. By improving cross-system coordination and service delivery, the child welfare program can help improve the chances of successful family reunification after incarceration.