NCJ Number
80741
Journal
Elementary School Guidance and Counseling Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: (February 1977) Pages: 177-184
Date Published
1977
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The counselor's role in helping the children and families of inmates is discussed, and types of services the counselor can offer are outlined.
Abstract
Counselors have the skills that can help children, teachers, and parents deal with many of the problems encountered by children as the result of the imprisonment of a parent. Roles that may be performed by the counselor are as a coordinator of services, a consultant, counselor, family educator, and instigator of child-study and case conferences. Counselor assistance to parents may include (1) helping parents to talk openly about their own and their children's problems, (2) providing parents with referral information, (3) assisting parents in understanding a child's behavior and teaching parents how to deal with specific behaviors, and (4) helping parents understand family changes that occur when one parent is absent. Counseling the children can help them express and explore their feelings, frustrations, confusions, apprehensions, and uncertainties. Group counseling of children can bring them acceptance in a social group while overcoming the isolation derived from feeling that their problems are different from those of other children. Family counseling can help reduce conflicts within the family by exposing the feelings underlying disruptive behavior and by teaching methods for dealing with problem behavior in children and other family members. Child-study and case conferences should be initiated whenever a child appears to be experiencing difficulty or when circumstances indicate the probability of a need. Nine references are listed.