Between 1990 and 2007, the number of children under the age of 18 with an incarcerated parent in the United States increased from 945,600 to 1,706,600, reaching 2.3 % of children in the country (Glaze and Maruschak, 2008). . These children may suffer from traumatic separation, loneliness, stigma, confusing explanations to children, unstable childcare arrangements, strained parenting, reduced income and moving homes, schools and neighborhood. (Murray, Farrington and Sekol 2012). Additionally, these children are subject to highly stressful life events while their parents are undergoing the incarceration process and likely had other stressors prior to their incarceration. The behavioral effects of these children and their families raise pressing social concerns, as the effects of incarceration extend far beyond prison walls. Children experience parental incarceration in many different circumstances and the behavioral effects vary depending on the parent who was incarcerated, prior living conditions, and quality of incarceration. parent-child relationships before incarceration, the age of the child at the time of incarceration, the nature and duration of the sentence, alternative care arrangements, contacts with the incarcerated parent and the way whose other family members manage the event (Murray, et al. 2012). Because the circumstances of parental incarceration vary, children's attitudes and behavior also vary. Polk County District Judge Mike Hubbard explained that when a family member awaits sentencing, they are more likely to look at how the family can support the offender, not how the offender helps provide for the family's needs. While it makes sense for the best interest of the offender to be successfully rehabilitated, if family life is not conducive to...... middle of paper ......lack of availability of figure d attachment, and understood the modalities of alternative care (Murray and Murray, 2009). Given the extreme disadvantage most families find themselves in prior to parental incarceration (Mignon & Ransford, 2012), it is likely that multiple factors, beyond incarceration alone, are at the root of behavioral problems these children face. Some children with incarcerated family members tend to act out because they think someone will take pity on them and not discipline them, while other students, who may be victims of domestic violence, are very reserved and don't say anything because they are afraid. . (Interview with Amelia Meith). Therefore, different interventions are needed for each individual situation. It is important that these children have adults in their lives trained to identify these interventions and provide support...