ABSTRACT

The Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) operates an array of programs that primarily serve students whose parents are incarcerated. The incarceration of parents has a particularly devastating impact upon the children left behind. Children of incarcerated parents experience a range of emotions regarding the loss of their parent, complicated by family, school, and community circumstances. Children of incarcerated parents have long been referred to as a "hidden population". The stigma of parental incarceration makes identification of this group of youths difficult. The Youth Advocacy Program (YAP) is one of several programs operated by the CCA, a private, not-for-profit organization that develops and promotes community-based alternatives to incarceration. Youths who participate in YAP services mirror the demographic characteristics of students who attend the Beard Alternative School. Program assessment practices that build trust and meet a wide variety of needs enabled CCA to determine that 80" of the youths enrolled in CCA programs have a parent who was recently incarcerated.