How to prevent the termination of parental rights, incarcerated parents face three challenges.

First, regular contact, preferably visitation, with a child in foster care is critical. Unless termination of parental rights is clearly in the child’s best interest, a court will be less likely to terminate the rights of a parent who can demonstrate ongoing positive contact with a child and involvement in his or her life. In California, for example, the statutory list of circumstances that constitute exceptions to termination includes that, “the parents have maintained regular visitation and contact with the child and the child would benefit from continuing the relationship.”

      Ironically, though contact and visitation are most important for incarcerated parents whose children are in foster care, some evidence suggests that such children are the least likely to visit their parents in prison. That is because visits must be authorized and arranged by child welfare caseworkers who carry high caseloads and who may be inclined to “abandon” the prospect of reunification with an imprisoned parent.

      Second, incarcerated parents who want to avoid termination of parental rights should participate to the fullest extent possible in their children’s dependency proceedings, including case planning, hearings and court orders. Parents, however, are often dependent upon caseworkers for information and guidance to navigate the dependency process. Unfortunately, some studies have found that caseworkers rarely communicate with parents in prison, inform them of hearings or involve them in case planning.

      Third, incarcerated parents need access to reunification services, such as substance abuse treatment, mental health services and parenting classes. In the BJS study, more than half of parents in state prison (55 percent of fathers and 74 percent of mothers) reported a mental health problem and more than two-thirds (67 percent of fathers and 70 percent of mothers) reported substance dependence or abuse. Only four in 10 of these parents, however, reported receiving treatment for substance abuse since admission, and only one-third received treatment for mental health problems.

      In short, unique policy and practice issues can adversely affect children in foster care and their incarcerated parents. State policymakers, however, have options to mitigate the potentially harmful consequences of these policies and practices. The options are discussed later in this paper.