UNDERSTANDING THE EXPERIENCES OF CHILDREN FROM 10-18 GROUP AGES ON PARENTAL INCARCERATION

Imprisonment is considered by literature and studies as a factor that interferes in functional aspects of a family with multiple negative effects on the emotional and behavioral level, placing the child in an unforeseen, stressful, ambiguous and uncertain event related to their future. The children of incarcerated parents usually experience an intense mixture of feelings as they struggle to cope with many losses - not just the loss of their inmates but also the loss of their former life. Participants in the study described their experiences regarding the reality of having a father in prison and how this affected their life cycle. Children described the moments of parent absence and what that meant for their family in terms of family roles. Also visiting the imprisoned parent represents a challenge in its self. We are going to analyze them according to the children's experiences. This study attempts to answer the question: "What face children of imprisoned parents? "This is a qualitative study, with phenomenological methodologies. The instrument used is semi-structured interviews. The sample involved was n = 9 children of the age group 10-18, where 5 were female children and 4 males. Among the findings of this study are the lack of parenting and changing roles in the family, the problems in the school sphere versus co-perpetrators, the secrecy of imprisonment, guilt, mistrust of authority and the social system. Among the limits of this study we mention: lack of a control group and the involvement of two groups: those who have a parent in pre-trial and the group who has a parent in prison, small sample, the role of language and terms.