Victoria –The Representative for Children and Youth says “significant steps” must be taken to ensure young people are well-supported and their voices are heard when their caregivers are involved in the criminal justice system or incarcerated.
“Every day at my office we see the profound trauma that young people experience when their parents or caregivers are often very abruptly removed from their lives,” said Representative Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth.” When we look at the incarceration of parents, we often don’t look closely at what this can mean for children who are left behind, who can find themselves involved in the child protection system, in poverty with the loss of parental income or suffering the real trauma of experiencing their parents being arrested and detained.”
In December 2025, the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR), in partnership with the Elizabeth Fry Society, Vancouver Foundation and with input from the Representative for Children and Youth’s office, released a report titled Out of the Shadows. This report followed previous research and reports from the Centre that are among the first research studies in Canada that examine the impacts of parental criminal justice involvement on the lives of children and youth.
The ICCLR research estimates there are approximately 70,000 adults with children taken into provincial and federal custody annually and up to 50,000 young people who are impacted annually. In B.C. alone, the research estimates that 700 mothers are incarcerated annually. Building on this, another comprehensive research report released in April 2026, found that there were 12,200 parents with children incarcerated in BC between 2015 and 2021 at a minimum.
The ICCLR research identifies a number of harms to young people, including stigma and shame, and a range of behavioral and developmental issues such as challenges regulating emotions and difficulty forming attachments. Extensive research on Adverse Childhood Experiences identifies parental incarceration as one of ten key adverse experiences for children, the cumulative effects of which are associated with poorer health and mental health, and poorer social and behavioural outcomes across the life course of affected children.
The ICCLR reports make several recommendations to ensure the best interests of children and youth are supported, such as:
- training of justice system professionals to enhance awareness of the impacts on children
- more family-focused decision-making practices, including considering child impact assessments in sentencing decisions
- enhancing community-based alternatives to incarceration so that families are better able to stay together
- enhanced supports to support incarcerated parents such as mother-child programs, parenting classes and family contact and visitation programs
- amendments to the Criminal Code so the best interests of children is a mandated consideration in sentencing decisions.
Charlesworth noted that these recommendations are echoed in the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s action plan for criminal justice and mental health that was released in June 2026.
“We have to stop treating young people as an afterthought in the criminal justice system,” said Charlesworth, adding that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly articulates the requirement to uphold the rights of young people, including consideration of their best interests in decisions that affect them. “We must continue to advocate now for action to ensure all young people receive the care and attention they deserve.”
The Representative has written to the Attorney General and will be following up to encourage meaningful steps to mitigate harms to young people.
Media contact: Sara Darling, 778 679 2588
Read ICCLR report: Out of the Shadows: Considering the Impact on Dependent Children of Adult Criminal Justice Processes
Read ICCLR report: Considering the Best Interests of the Child in Sentencing and Other Decisions Concerning Parents Facing Criminal Sanctions – An Overview for Practitioners
