80% of women in jail and 62% of women in prison are mothers. Each year, almost 60,000 people are pregnant when they enter the prison system. All of them risk losing their child(ren) to the foster-care system while incarcerated. A mother’s incarceration is often more destabilizing for children than is a father’s, as incarcerated women are more likely to have sole custody or be single parents than are men. Children of incarcerated mothers are “eight times more likely to be placed in foster care and seven times more likely to be placed in a group home or institutional setting” than are children of incarcerated fathers. We know less about transgender incarcerated parents. We do know, however, that nearly 1 in 6 trans people in the U.S.—and 1 in 2 Black trans people—will go to prison. We also know that nearly 1 in 5 trans people are parents. So, while available data focuses on men and women, transgender incarcerated parents certainly exist and their children also end up in foster care. Having an incarcerated parent is connected to generational poverty and kids in the foster care system have a greater chance of becoming incarcerated themselves. When a legal relationship between mother and child is severed, their psychological, emotional, and physical well-being is negatively impacted. This hole provides more information on the connections between foster care, adoption, and incarceration.  

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80% of women in jail and 62% of women in prison are mothers. Each year, almost 60,000 people are pregnant when they enter the prison system. All of them risk losing their child(ren) to the foster-care system while incarcerated. A mother’s incarceration is often more destabilizing for children than is a father’s, as incarcerated women are more likely to have sole custody or be single parents than are men. Children of incarcerated mothers are “eight times more likely to be placed in foster care and seven times more likely to be placed in a group home or institutional setting” than are children of incarcerated fathers. We know less about transgender incarcerated parents. We do know, however, that nearly 1 in 6 trans people in the U.S.—and 1 in 2 Black trans people—will go to prison. We also know that nearly 1 in 5 trans people are parents. So, while available data focuses on men and women, transgender incarcerated parents certainly exist and their children also end up in foster care. Having an incarcerated parent is connected to generational poverty and kids in the foster care system have a greater chance of becoming incarcerated themselves. When a legal relationship between mother and child is severed, their psychological, emotional, and physical well-being is negatively impacted. This hole provides more information on the connections between foster care, adoption, and incarceration.