Andrew Krakouer's dad, Jim, was imprisoned when the future AFL star was 13 years old.
Despite being well supported by his family, it wasn't a normal life for a young boy missing a parent.
"Memories of visiting dad in prison - the loud clunking of the doors, something that I'll never forget, the jiggling of the keys, the footsteps walking down the corridors and the long walk to be processed to see him in the visiting room," he recalled.
It was a similar situation for the Richmond player's nine and seven-year-old daughters when he was jailed in 2008 over a 2006 assault in Fremantle.
"I told my partner Barbara to tell the girls that dad did something wrong and he had to go away," he said.
"We didn't speak about it in depth and they didn't ask too many questions."
Teaming up with former foster carer Jacqueline Dinan, Krakouer has co-authored My Dad's Gone Away, which follows Tarah navigating life as a child whose parent has been incarcerated.
"I was a young child in Tarah's shoes with a parent incarcerated with my dad, and then I was the parent that was incarcerated, and my daughters were in the situation of Tarah," Krakouer said.
"I never had a tool or resource to be able to navigate my feelings and how I was going through that journey."
The picture book, described as an Australian first, is designed to support children with an incarcerated parent by addressing the often-taboo topic.
The authors wanted to create a book that was not too confronting but also gave children a realistic vision of what things may look like visiting an incarcerated parent, Krakouer said.
For Dinan, the book encapsulates a global story that children face every day and a resource she wished she had as a foster carer.
"It could become a child's teddy bear. It's the book they go to bed with," she said.
"They go to bed with Tarah, with the thought that she's resilient, and she got on with it, and she was scared, and there was challenges, but that it's OK."
Three per cent of Australia's population is Indigenous, yet 32 per cent of the incarcerated population are Aboriginal people.
When she first read the book, Moana Wati from Shine for Kids, a charity supporting children affected by the criminal justice system, finally found a portrait of child's emotions captured.
"It echoes the real-life experience that so many children have ... and serves as a gentle guide for children who are often the invisible victims of crime," she said.
The book was launched on Tuesday at Richmond Football Club with a performance by acclaimed singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, including his classic How To Make Gravy, about a jailed man lamenting he is missing the family's Christmas celebrations.
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