Existing literature highlights the negative impacts of parental incarceration on children’s educational outcomes, with some work suggesting teachers or other school personnel assess the academic competencies, behavior, and expectations of students of incarcerated parents more negatively than peers with no parental system involvement. This study aims to understand how school personnel (teachers, social workers, administrators) ‘find out’ about parental system involvement and how this impacts routine aspects of parent-school interactions, shapes outcomes for children, and transforms understandings of institutional trust.