CIP (Children of Incarcerated Parents) Task Force Recommendations

In 2011 I was asked to join the CIP (Children of Incarcerated Parents,) Task Force. This was a small committee of program directors, local law enforcement representatives, legal counsels, social behavioral professionals, mental health workers, and more. It was our hope to create a new approach on how children of incarcerated parents are handled and treated in traumatic events such as witnessing their parent being arrested, or their parents having to go through the criminal justice process. After months of debate and research a series of legal recommendations were created and propose to the Arizona State legislature for their consideration. Since then these recommendations have made their way to numerous other state assemblies for their own considerations and inclusion. I was largely in charge of the editing and finalizing of the final proposal; I created a formal document to present the Task Force’s findings, and later I would go on to create material that was directed to the typical citizen so that they could understand the recommendations without wading through dozens of pages.