Addressing Needs of Children of Incarcerated Parents With Child-Centered Play Therapy

Abstract

Children experience the ambiguous loss of a parent to incarceration through disruptions in relational attachments, experiences with stigma and shame, and instability. The prolonged grief responses of young children during parental incarceration may necessitate additional therapeutic intervention. This article proposes child-centered play therapy (CCPT) as a culturally and developmentally appropriate intervention to meet the needs of young children of incarcerated parents (CIP) and describes a hypothetical case illustration of CCPT with a child during parental incarceration to demonstrate its application.

Keywords:

• children of incarcerated parents
• ambiguous loss
• child-centered play therapy