When a sentence of prison time is imposed on a parent, many times the children of those parents feel they are also being punished.

This is especially true at Christmastime, when children can really feel the separation while their parent is in prison. About 75 percent of women in prison are mothers, and one in every 43 children has a parent in prison. This holiday season, more than 1.7 million children will spend Christmas separated from their incarcerated mom or dad.

This separation can strain relationships between children and their parents, and put additional stresses on the caregivers of the children. Children aren’t able to share with their parents stories from their day in school or worries about spending Christmas alone or in an unfamiliar setting.