title: Learning from the ground up: responding to children affected by parental incarceration.
abstract: Beginning in the fall of 2007, Illinois' Division of Mental Health began piloting an early intervention program targeting children of incarcerated parents. The pilot program was situated within a community-based agency on the Westside of Chicago with a high number of currently and formerly incarcerated community members. This article describes the program theory upon which the pilot program was based, the perceived benefits from the perspective of participants and the service provider agency, lessons learned, and recommendations for making incarceration-sensitive interventions a routine part of children's mental health services.
authors.affiliation: Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA. susanphillips@sentencingproject.org
authors.forename: Susan D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Brien
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011582:Psychological Theory; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors