Hello everyone. I am in need of some help. I am currently doing some research on the effects on children when a parent is sent to prison. I would love to hear and understand first hand from people who have or are currently in that position.

I would love it for people to post or email me their stories...no names are needed....create fake ones of you would like. I want to be able to share with my class first hand accounts of children who have been down this hard path.

my email is jjemkevw@aol.com

anything that you could provide me would be of greatest help

Thank You

jjemkevw

hardship of having daddy in prison....let me shed some light about my son who is 9yrs old now. He became very angry, not so much at only daddy but at the court system, the prison but mainly at the state of hawaii. Because the state of hawaii ships there inmates to the mainland to be housed, TAKING DADDY FAR AWAY NOT BEING ABLE TO HUG HIM HURTS SO DEEP. My son has such a anger problem that he had to be moved from regular school to a behavioral school with in class therapist and a special ed teacher and 3 EA's to total of 7 students. all unable to control their anger on their own. He has been dianosed with ODD-oppersitional Defiences disorder, IED-Intermited Explosive Disorder, depression, attachment disorder to name a few. If I didn't get him theraphy now these disorders will in time turn to conduct disorder and 90 percent of kids who have conduct disorder and never get the help early will end up in jail. I refuse to let that happen to my son or my daughter. Ask for help for them so they will make it in life. It's not been a easy road, and the future has a lot of bumpy roads a head but together as a family and with theraphy I still see the light at the end of the tunnel.

ok. here it goes. you are probablly lookin for reasons to say that daddys in prison messup babies. well, i dont know for sure but well see. it all started after a series of childish stuff that my bf did well i was stressed from school, busy babysitting him, and then boom christmas is here 2001 and i find out im pregnant the day before christmas eve. well, that didnt change him one bit, he continued to lie, smoke pot, and not do the things he said he was doing, like looking for a job. so my parents drug tested him then thru him out on the streets and he did more drugs didnt go to stuff he was supposed to and with me being all bipolar i started running off to be with him again about my fifth month he heard the heart beat but, that horrible night when my parents were out of town we went to a lake to be together and a cop pulled us over and i looked at him and said" you dont have any warrents do you?" he said no but after standing there in the dark the cops searched my car completely and ran his license b/c his name sounded familiar. well sure enough he had a warrent and they hadcuffed him right there in front of me and drove off. i had to find proof that they were wrong well later on i found out he was just lieing again, after i stayed up till 4pm lookin and finally when i laid down the our son began kicking for the first time. he never felt it. he stayed in county jail till a month before i had the baby. then he was in a halfway house and they still wouldnt let him come see me. a week after the baby was born i took him to see his daddy in contact visits until he was 9wks and his daddy got out. we had a crazy two and a half months together. and then he started his same crap. no change again. he got locked up in jan 03 for theft by taking motor vehichle and parts joyriding on a dirt bike. boys...no offense. so i have not had any contact with him since. he wrote me until this past summmer when he finally gave up. i never wrote or anything. my son doesnt know his father and doent even know what a father is.
ps i am startin to change my mind that is why i joined this family. please if you have any advice or counsel from your studies. which is better? daddy of no daddy?

Hi there!

My name is Lydia, and I stumbled upon your post and thought I'd give you some help http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/04.gif.

I have two children (son 15, daughter 14), and their father has been in a Federal Prison since 1990. My daughter was only 1 month old at the time. His projected release date is August of 2006. By then, my son will be 17 years old, and my daughter will be turning 16 within days of his release.

My son was only 17 months at the time of his fathers arrest, so he really doesn't remember him ever being around. And of course my daughter doesn't remember a thing! I think of was very fortunate to have him be sentenced to a long term stay, rather than them have a father who is in and out of prison, popping in and out of their lives.

The children are very well rounded. My son is a strong athlete, and very much recognized for his gifted talent. My daughter is at the top of her class in school, and a very compassionate girl. They know their father, and have gone to visit him a few times. Since he is "Federal Property", it's been hard to visit as he has been to many different states. His level has recently dropped and is now in an FCI in Phoenix....we have family there, so I have taken them over the summer. He calls the children once a week, and for the past 5 years, he has sent the children $50.00 each for Christmas....I think that's pretty cool since they hardly make any money for their labor. I would say they have a great relationship with him. I am not sure if there is any resentment on their behalves, but there could be....I believe they are living their lives to NOT be in a situation that will one day take their freedom away, or away from their family.

My family has played a huge part in their upbringing, and has been very supportive in all aspects of their lives thus far. I am married, and my husband and the children's father do talk on occasion. So, I guess you can say that him being away has not really impacted our lives in a negative way...

Sorry for the long reply.