Abstract
The study examined the impact of maternal incarceration on children’s mental and social outcomes through both quantitative and qualitative secondary data. Large-scale secondary data for general themes and detailed 20 case studies of incarcerated mothers were used to examine the specific factors related to the impact of incarceration on children’s mental and social outcomes. The major findings from the study indicated that majority of children with an incarcerated mother remain in the care of the kinship caretakers who had a good relationship with the incarcerated mother. Although 40% percent of the incarcerated mothers showed pre-incarceration neglect of the children, an equal number (40%) had a caring and nurturing relationship with their children. Yet 70% of their children were in out of home placement with 75% in kinship care and 15% in foster care. There was a statistically significant association (Cramer’s V of .555 p=.046) between children not being in foster care and consistency of care. There was a moderate association between the regularity of visitations (Cramer’s V of .488) with the incarcerated mothers and children not having behavioral issues. The majority had visitations with the incarcerated mother whenever resources and time permitted such visits. Children exhibit behavioral issues even when the kinship or foster care was consistent with regular visitations with the incarcerated mother. The majority of the incarcerated mothers had stable employment prior to incarceration and were first time offenders with a history of drug abuse. Those mothers who were repeat offenders were less involved in their children’s lives. The majority of the mothers reported being anguished by the separation from their children and only one third of them received the opportunity to have consistent care opportunities for visitation. There were significant associations between maternal drug use and first time incarceration (Phi value of .555), maternal drug use and whether children were neglected by the incarcerated mother (Phi of .624), and maternal drug use and history of victimization (Phi value of .464). The results indicated there was a significant correlation with respect to being a repeat offender and the level of maternal involvement while incarcerated (p=.047). The researchers recommend policy changes to offer consistent and integrated mothering of children whose mothers are incarcerated, to prevent the vicious cycle of antisocial behavior and mental health issues of children in their adult years.