Helping Infants and Toddlers Cope with Parental Incarceration
Many children of incarcerated parents are young (44-57% are 0-5 years) and few resources are available to help young children and their caregivers cope with separation from a parent. "Over There" is a children’s board book developed by ZERO TO THREE to provide reassurance and comfort to a young child separated from a military parent. The book was intended to keep the parent in the mind and heart of the child and to give the child's caregiver encouragement and language to talk about the absent parent. We revised "Over There," retaining core themes relating to loving and missing a parent from afar, but focusing on the experience of a young child coping with the separation associated with parental incarceration.
Outcomes
The revised book, called "Here and There," is available is its draft form from Professor Poehlmann-Tynan. It is appropriate for very young children separated from their parents as the result of incarceration, detainment, deportation, or other challenging circumstances. We also created a Spanish-language version of the revised book that we tested with Spanish-speaking families; that version is currently being assessed by ZERO TO THREE and will be available in its draft form in the near future. The URL above is an activity book based on the "Over There" book. We are currently creating the activity book for "Here and There."
Focus Areas
Project Leader
Julie Poehlmann-Tynan
Professor
- Department/Unit
- Human Development and Family Studies
- School or College
- School of Human Ecology