Thousands of Delaware Students Are Caught Between Incarceration and a Literacy Crisis. Where’s the Help?
They say the parent is the one doing time.
But that’s not the whole truth.
When a parent is incarcerated, their child begins serving time, too.
No trial. No judge. Just consequences.
The System Says These Kids Don’t Exist
If you walked into a Delaware classroom today, you wouldn’t be able to point them out.
Not because there are none. But because no one is looking.
There is no box on the enrollment form. No flag in the school system. No state policy that says, “Find these kids and support them.”
And so they sit quietly in the back of the room.
Stomachaches. Outbursts. Reading scores that won’t budge.
Their pain gets labeled “bad behavior.”
Their silence gets mistaken for resilience.
Let it be clear that these children are not “fine”.
Two Crises. One Child.
Let’s be painfully honest:
A child with an incarcerated parent is already navigating chronic trauma.
Now drop that child into a classroom in the middle of Delaware’s literacy crisis, where:
Nearly 74% of kids who don’t read well in 3rd grade never catch up.
Low literacy is a stronger predictor of incarceration than race, poverty, or even neighborhood.
And more than 70% of people in prison read below a 5th-grade level.
Only 35% of Delaware third graders are reading at grade level, down from 54% in 2015.
cehd.udel.edu+3yahoo.com+3whyy.org+3libraries.delaware.govAcross grades 3–8, just 40% of students met proficiency in both reading and math in 2024.
delawarepublic.org+2delawarepublic.org+2For 4th graders, a staggering 75% are not proficient in reading.
en.wikipedia.org+14whyy.org+14libraries.delaware.gov+14Delaware’s 8th-grade reading scores hit a 27-year low, sitting well below the national average.
That child is now facing challenges on two fronts:
💥 At home — missing the person they love.
💥 At school — slipping through academic cracks they didn’t create.
Schools Aren’t Failing on Purpose But They Are Failing
This isn’t a time for blame, but the truth matters more than anyone’s comfort.
Delaware schools need to be trained to identify this specific trauma, and districts need a strong plan to fix it.
But let’s be clear:
Not knowing isn’t the same as not being responsible.
This Is Where Out Of The Ashes Steps In
We created Behind Every Sentence to blow the lid off this silence.
We are a Delaware-rooted organization using drama-based workshops, trauma-informed presentations, and community youth groups to support children of incarcerated parents.
We train school staff.
We equip caregivers.
We create spaces where kids feel seen and heard instead of scanned and handled.
And we do it with one urgent mission:
To stop letting these students become collateral damage.
The Time to Act Is Right Now
Waiting until the child drops out is too late.
We shouldn’t wait until they show signs of trouble to take action.
If you wait until the trauma is "obvious," you’ve already lost precious time.
So here’s what you can do:
✅ Ask your school: Do you know which of your students has an incarcerated parent? What are you doing to support them?
✅ Talk to your district: What partnerships exist with trauma-informed organizations?
✅ Share this article: Send it to your PTA, your principal, your school counselor.
✅ Visit OutOfTheAshesLLC.com: Set up a call to learn how we can support your organization.