Rooted & Rising: Why Families Must Be at the Center of Justice Reform By Franchesca Capellan Doctoral Candidate in Executive Leadership Founder, Family Systems Collective | Rooted & Rising Family-Centered Consulting
Centering families as catalysts for transformational justice reform through family systems theory and relational leadership.
Rooted & Rising: Why Families Must Be at the Center of Justice Reform
By Franchesca Capellan
Doctoral Candidate in Executive Leadership
Founder, Family Systems Collective | Rooted & Rising Family-Centered Consulting
More than five million children in the United States have experienced the incarceration of a parent (The Sentencing Project, 2022). Behind every statistic is a story of a child navigating silence, a caregiver stretching resources, a family reshaping itself in the absence of someone they love.
Yet when we talk about justice reform, families are often missing from the conversation.
This is where Family Systems Collective | Rooted & Rising Family-Centered Consulting begins.
A Different Starting Point
Family Systems Collective was founded on a powerful truth: when we strengthen families, we strengthen communities.
For too long, justice reform efforts have centered only on the individual who is incarcerated or returning home. While individual services matter, research consistently shows that incarceration reverberates across entire family systems (Arditti, 2012). Children experience educational and emotional disruption (Murray & Farrington, 2008). Caregivers shoulder financial and psychological strain. Communities absorb generational impact.
Family Systems Theory reminds us that no person exists in isolation (Bowen, 1978). When one member of a family is justice-involved, the entire system shifts.
But here is the hopeful reality: strong family connections are among the most significant protective factors in reducing recidivism and supporting successful reentry (Bales & Mears, 2008; Visher & Travis, 2003).
Families are not collateral damage. They are catalysts for change.
What Family Systems Collective Does
Family Systems Collective partners with nonprofit leaders, behavioral health agencies, reentry programs, educators, and cross-sector stakeholders to design family-centered, culturally responsive frameworks that move beyond fragmented service delivery.
We help organizations:
• Reimagine programs through a family systems lens
• Strengthen culturally responsive leadership practices
• Integrate trauma-informed approaches
• Build restorative and relational reentry models
• Align cross-sector partnerships across justice, housing, education, and behavioral health
• Improve outcomes by centering connection, dignity, and belonging
Our work is grounded in research, including Critical Race Theory’s examination of systemic inequities embedded within policy and institutions (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). Mass incarceration has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown families due to structural disparities in sentencing, housing, education, and access to care.
Addressing these inequities requires more than reform; it requires relational leadership.
Where Scholarship Meets Lived Experience
My commitment to this work is both academic and deeply personal. As the daughter of an incarcerated father, I understand what it means for incarceration to shape identity, opportunity, and family dynamics across generations.
That lived experience informs my doctoral research in Executive Leadership, which examines culturally responsive leadership practices within community-based organizations serving incarcerated men of color and their families.
Research shows that children of incarcerated parents face increased exposure to adverse childhood experiences and mental health challenges (Turney, 2014). But research also shows that resilience grows where support systems are present.
Family Systems Collective transforms this evidence into a strategy.
We translate theory into practice. We move from insight to implementation. We build bridges where silos once stood.
Why Partnership Is Essential
The justice system does not operate alone. It intersects with behavioral health, housing, education, workforce development, and child welfare. When agencies work in isolation, families experience gaps. Those gaps can lead to instability, and instability increases the likelihood of system re-entry.
Collaborative partnerships create:
• Continuity of care
• Shared accountability
• Stronger funding opportunities
• Increased community trust
• Measurable, long-term impact
Family Systems Collective serves as a connector across these sectors, helping organizations design solutions that are not only evidence-based but equity-driven and human-centered.
A Call to Lead Differently
Justice reform cannot be transactional. It must be transformational.
If we are serious about reducing recidivism, addressing behavioral health disparities, and interrupting intergenerational involvement in the system, we must lead differently. We must design systems that recognize families as partners, not afterthoughts.
Family Systems Collective exists to support leaders who are ready to:
• Center families in justice and behavioral health reform
• Build culturally responsive and restorative service models
• Reduce recidivism through relational approaches
• Strengthen community-rooted networks of care
• Move from fragmented services to integrated systems
The future of justice reform is not punitive; it is relational.
It is not siloed, it is collaborative.
It is not deficit-focused; it is rooted in resilience.
When we invest in families, we invest in futures.
And when leadership is rooted inequity and rising through partnership, transformation becomes possible.
References
Arditti, J. A. (2012). Parental incarceration and the family: Psychological and social effects of imprisonment on children, parents, and caregivers. NYU Press.
Bales, W. D., & Mears, D. P. (2008). Inmate social ties and the transition to society: Does visitation reduce recidivism? Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 45(3), 287–321.
Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. Jason Aronson.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction (3rd ed.). NYU Press.
Murray, J., & Farrington, D. P. (2008). The effects of parental imprisonment on children. Crime and Justice, 37(1), 133–206.
The Sentencing Project. (2022). Parents in prison.
Turney, K. (2014). Stress proliferation across generations.Parental incarceration and child well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 55(3), 302–319.
Visher, C. A., & Travis, J. (2003). Transitions from prison to community. Crime and Justice, 29, 89–129.
