Silenced Twice: Emotional Avoidance and Policy Invisibility of Children of Incarcerated Mothers in India

Abstract

Children of incarcerated mothers in India remain among the least visible populations within both psychological research and criminal justice policy. This paper introduces the concept of dual-layered silence to examine how these children are rendered invisible at two interconnected levels: the micro level of maternal emotional avoidance and the macro level of policy omission. At the psychological level, incarcerated mothers may suppress or avoid discussing their children as a trauma-mediated survival response shaped by guilt, helplessness, stigma, and carceral stress. Such emotional distancing should not be misread as lack of care, but as an adaptive coping mechanism under conditions of deprivation. At the structural level, Indian legal and policy frameworks rarely explicitly recognize children of incarcerated mothers as a distinct vulnerable group requiring targeted welfare, developmental, or psychosocial interventions. Drawing on Trauma Theory, the paper argues that these two silences are mutually reinforcing, producing what is conceptualized as the Carceral Silence Loop, a cyclical process in which institutional neglect deepens maternal helplessness, emotional suppression reduces advocacy visibility, and policy silence continues. Using deductive thematic analysis of incarcerated mothers’ narratives alongside a policy mapping matrix of relevant Indian laws and correctional frameworks, the paper highlights how emotional and institutional silences sustain intergenerational disadvantage. It concludes by calling for child-inclusive prison policy, trauma-informed maternal support systems, and recognition of these children within child protection discourse.