Dealing with incarceration is challenging. Imagine being taken to a facility surrounded by barbed wire, a sterile cold environment, with stoic armed guards, where everyone is shackled and stripped of any sign of individuality.

Now imagine, you are only nine years old, the average age of children when a parent is first incarcerated. For many Utahn children, this is a reality they encounter when they visit an incarcerated parent. There is nothing fair about this. Incarceration of a parent often affects the most vulnerable, targeting the young, the poor, the minority and rural children with access to limited resources, and children from families with low education.