This chapter explores the systemic and psychological manifestations of racial and medical trauma symptoms associated with COVID-19 and parental incarceration and lays the groundwork for the implementation of relational-cultural and attachment theory and practice within a clinical community-based setting to treat this population. The overwhelming prevalence of infection of COVID-19 in correctional facilities further heightens the collateral trauma responses of children grieving the loss of their loved ones due to hyper-incarceration. Trauma symptoms exhibited by children and adolescents generally follow a similar symptomatology: depression, anger, aggression, self-isolation, and self-harming behaviors. As with other vulnerable populations impacted by various forms of trauma, children of incarcerated parents will likewise benefit from mental health providers employing attachment theory-based interventions during the global pandemic. Clinicians working with children of incarcerated parents often experience secondary trauma, and in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, the term shared trauma is more aptly applied.
COVID-19 and the Injustice System: Reshaping Clinical Practice for Children and Families Impacted by Hyper-Incarceration