Support Groups for Families of the Incarcerated

When a loved one is incarcerated, the lives of their family and friends are profoundly affected and it is often a traumatic experience. Figuring out how to support and maintain a connection with a loved one in jail is stressful to navigate. Feelings of hopelessness, anger, grief, and anxiety all take a toll on one’s mental and emotional health.

Finding a support group for families of incarcerated individuals is a way for you and your family to learn how to cope with the challenges you’re facing, and hear from those who are going through similar struggles.

You Are Not Alone: Attending a Support Group for Families of the Incarcerated 

When a loved one goes to jail, it can seem like your life gets placed on hold. But as hard as it may be, you need to continue living your lives. You are often focused on your loved one who is incarcerated and their situation, but it i’s essential to consider and think about how family and friends feel. Support groups provide an opportunity to share the difficulties of having a loved one who is incarcerated. Topics in support groups range, including:

• How your loved one’s incarceration will affect your whole family.

• How severe the crime your loved one committed was and whether you can get past it.

• How your day-to-day living has been impacted.

There can be a lot of shame around having a loved one incarcerated, further isolating a family. Support groups help families of incarcerated individuals to understand they are not alone. They provide a place where others share their experience, strength, and hope, providing healing and forming friendships. If you cannot attend in-person meetings, there are online discussion rooms and support groups specific to those who have an incarcerated loved one. By finding a network of support, you are not only helping yourself and your family, but also your incarcerated loved one.

Support Group Resources for Families of Incarcerated Individuals

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: For those with children facing adversity, this program matches them with a vetted caring adult mentor.

• Volunteers of America: Through this organization, incarcerated parents are trained to read and record children’s books. Then the recordings are given to their children along with a book bag, personal tape player, and other supplies

• National CURE: Organizes incarcerated individuals and their loved ones to work for the cause of prison reform

• PrisonMail.org: Provides constant correspondence between incarcerated people and their families.

• Parenting & Family Healing:  Provides parenting and family help to incarcerated individuals

• Hope House: Strengthens relational bonds between children and their incarcerated fathers.

Other Ways to Seek Support

• Explore books on the topic of families of the incarcerated:

• Bernstein, N. (2005). All alone in the world: Children of the incarcerated. NY: The New Press.

• Braman, Donald, Doing Time on the Outside: Incarceration and Family Life in Urban America, U. of Michigan 2004

• Condry, R. (2007) Families Shamed, The consequences of crime for relatives of serious offenders, U.K. Willan Publishing

• Check out these films on children and families impacted by incarceration:

• Time – This documentary explores a mother’s fight to release her husband from behind bars while also showing how their children were impacted into their adulthood. This film is available on Amazon Prime.

• Jacinta – This documentary focuses on the impact of addiction and incarceration on an entire family. Jacinta’s ten-year-old daughter provides first-hand experiences of how her mother’s incarceration has impacted her own self-esteem and relationship with her mom. This film is available for streaming on Hulu.

• A Sentence of Their Own – This film is about a family’s annual trip to a New Hampshire State Prison and shows the harsh impact incarceration has on families.

• When the Bough Breaks – This is a documentary about three Missouri families whose children visit their mom in prison and are looked after by social workers, foster parents, and grandparents.

• Join a social media support group for families of the incarcerated.

• Start your own in-person or online support group for families of the incarcerated.

• Advocate or volunteer with an advocacy group for families of the incarcerated. 

Let HomeWAV Support You

By ensuring the family is both mentally and emotionally supported, they can better help an incarcerated loved one through their difficult ordeal.

If you are ready to make communication part of your process for how to cope with a loved one in jail, HomeWAV provides voice calling, video visitation, and messaging. If you are searching for more information about HomeWAV, view our frequently asked questions and details about setting up an account.