3
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                     HOUSE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SYSTEM TO
    IDENTIFY AND PROVIDE SERVICES AND SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN OF
    INCARCERATED PARENTS. 


 1        WHEREAS, estimates suggest that more than 1.6 million
 2   children in the United States have a father in prison, and
 3   approximately 200,000 have a mother serving time in a state or
 4   federal prison or local jail; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, the number of incarcerated women is growing at a
 7   faster rate than the number of men, with a four hundred thirty-
 8   two per cent increase in the female prison population between
 9   1986 and 1991; and 
10   
11        WHEREAS, the increasing rate of incarceration of women is
12   particularly disturbing because it places more children at
13   risk; approximately seventy-five per cent of female inmates are
14   mothers, and many are often the sole caregiver of their
15   children; and
16   
17        WHEREAS, the likelihood that children of incarcerated
18   mothers will ultimately land in jail or prison is estimated to
19   be as high as eight times greater than the risk of children of
20   non-offenders; almost half of women in state prisons report
21   that someone in their family was at one time in prison or jail;
22   and 
23   
24        WHEREAS, the low priority often given to maintaining
25   mother and child relationships by prison administrators
26   contributes to family disruption and the children's social
27   alienation, many of whom may show hyperactivity, attention
28   deficits, delinquency, teenage pregnancy, withdrawal from
29   social relationships or retreat into denial; and  
30   
31        WHEREAS, although children of incarcerated mothers are
32   clearly at risk, much of the existing research on the impact of
33   incarceration has relied on self reporting by parents in prison

 
Page 2                                                     3
                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   or the temporary caregivers and there are few reliable
 2   statistics to establish how many children are affected, who
 3   they are, or where they live; and 
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, because the child welfare and criminal justice
 6   systems encounter many of the same families, it is imperative
 7   that they collaborate to maximize opportunities for the
 8   families and work together to develop a system to identify
 9   these children and provide gender specific services to support
10   women offenders and their families; now, therefore,
11   
12        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
13   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
14   of 2000, the Senate concurring, that the Director of Human
15   Services and the Director of Public Safety are requested to
16   collaborate in the development of a system to identify and
17   track children with incarcerated parents, to identify what
18   services and programs are currently available to these
19   children, as well as identify programs or support services that
20   must be provided to meet the needs of these children and
21   families; and
22   
23        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Human Services
24   and the Director of Public Safety are requested to report
25   findings and recommendations to the Legislature twenty days
26   before the convening of the Regular Session of 2001; and
27   
28        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
29   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Human
30   Services and the Director of Public Safety.
31   
32 
33 
34 
35                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________