The Moderating Effect of Living with a Child Before Incarceration on Postrelease Outcomes Related to a Prison-Based Parent Management Training Program

ABSTRACT

With the rapid growth in incarceration in the United States over the past few decades came dramatic growth in the number of the incarcerated parents with at least one minor child. Parental incarceration places extra stresses and strains on families and children. Almost all of those incarcerated will eventually be released. However, the majority of those released from prison will be rearrested within a year. Finding interventions that can decrease the likelihood of returning to crime and to incarceration are of utmost importance. Using a social bond theory framework, the authors examine the moderating effect of living with a child before incarceration on program outcomes related to a prison-based parent management training program. A significant effect was found. Implications for these findings are discussed for future research and practice.     

‘The Whole Family Suffered,So the Whole Family Needs to Recover’: Thematic Analysis of Substance-Abusing Mothers’ Family Therapy Sessions

ABSTRACT

Substance-abusing mothers and their children are more likely to experience a range of social, behavioral, and psychological difficulties. Despite the significant challenges faced by these families, little is known about their experiences in treatment. The current study analyzed 12 sessions of family therapy using thematic analysis to identify common themes that arose during discussion between substance-abusing mothers and their children during family therapy. Mothers’ ages ranged from 28 to 35 years old, and the children's ages ranged from 12 to 14 years old. Four therapy sessions from 3 families were coded for a total of 12 therapy sessions. An ecological framework was used to classify themes, in which themes related to each level of the families’ ecological systems were identified. Thematic analysis of the therapy sessions indicated that mothers and their children primarily discussed topics related to their relational and emotional needs. The findings indicated that mothers with substance use disorders and their children have unique treatment needs that should be addressed when the mother seeks treatment. More research is needed to further clarify and confirm the observations in this study. In particular, future research should include a larger sample and quantitative methodology.     

Variations in the Life Histories of Incarcerated Parents by Race and Ethnicity: Implications for Service Provision

ABSTRACT

Incarcerated parents have complex life histories that often remain unresolved during incarceration, can continue to create barriers to prosocial success on release, and present similar intergenerational challenges for their children. This study examines the life histories of incarcerated fathers and mothers from the Pacific Northwest and how their experiences vary based on race and ethnicity. Five areas examined were exposure to trauma, child welfare involvement, mental health and substance abuse problems, juvenile justice and adult criminal justice involvement, and intergenerational criminal justice involvement. The sample comprised 359 incarcerated parents, and their racial/ethnic composition was 59% White, 14% African American, 11% multiracial, 8% Native American, and 7% Latino. Few differences were found across racial and ethnic groups. Mothers appeared more similar to each other across groups than fathers. Results illustrated similarities yet some surprising differences with national trends on key study variables. Implications for future research and intervention and prevention are discussed.     

Courts,care proceedings and outcomes uncertainty: The challenges of achieving and assessing “good outcomes” for children after child protection proceedings

The professed aim of any social welfare or legal intervention in family life is often to bring about “better outcomes for the children.” But there is considerable ambiguity about “outcomes,” and the term is far too often used in far too simplistic a way. This paper draws on empirical research into the outcomes of care proceedings for a randomly selected sample of 616 children in England and Wales, about half starting proceedings in 2009–2010 and the others in 2014–2015. The paper considers the challenges of achieving and assessing “good outcomes” for the children. Outcomes are complex and fluid for all children, whatever the court order. One has to assess the progress of the children in the light of their individual needs and in the context of “normal” child development, and in terms of the legal provisions and policy expectations. A core paradox is that some of the most uncertain outcomes are for children who remain with or return to their parents; yet law and policy require that first consideration is given to this option. Greater transparency about the uncertainty of outcomes is a necessary step towards better understanding the risks and potential benefits of care proceedings.     

Fathers Facing Advanced Cancer: An Exploratory Study

Adults who are living with cancer while raising young children are faced with distinct challenges particularly when that cancer is advanced. While the literature examining parental cancer continues to grow, very little has focused on families facing advanced cancer and the father’s perspective is nearly absent. To address these gaps, grounded theory methods were used to study the experiences of 11 fathers living with advanced cancer while raising minor children. The participants were all married with between one and six children living in their household. Semistructured, in-person interviews revealed concerns for their children permeated the “ordeal” and these fathers described the ongoing challenge of “teeter-tottering between hope and despair.” The fathers used key protective strategies to counterbalance the weight of the barriers to achieve resilience throughout the cancer experience. Primary barriers were characterized as physical impairments, uncertainty, and financial strain. Fathers described relying on flexibility in their roles as fathers, open communication patterns, use of supportive resources, and the ability to find meaning in their experiences as crucial to fostering resilience. Recommendations include interdisciplinary family centered interventions that consider gendered parental roles as well as financial burden.     

A qualitative exploration of reentry service needs: The case of fathers returning from prison

The challenge of community and family reentry after a parent's release from prison remains an under‐addressed area of collateral damage stemming from high rates of U.S. incarceration. Many fathers released from prison return to living with family, and later attribute family connections and parent–child contact as key factors in their postrelease success. However, reentry planning is hampered by a dearth of research on family‐focused reentry services, and consequently, often omits attention to resuming family and parenting roles. To address this gap, we conducted 38 semi‐structured interviews with 19 previously incarcerated fathers, 9 co‐parenting mothers, and 10 relatives to explore service needs of fathers during reentry. Findings suggest programs not only should be multimodal, emphasizing family connections complemented by socioeconomic, self‐care, and social support services, but also should be accessible and relatable, offered within the community, and engaging for fathers and family members. Findings reinforce the importance of self‐determination and human agency while underscoring the multiple challenges fathers face upon reentry. By including the voices of those most affected by incarceration, this study advances knowledge to shape reentry programs and policies, contributes to efforts addressing criminal justice inequities, and promotes well‐being among formerly incarcerated parents and their families.     

Physical and social circumstances of children in Iran affected by the incarceration of the mother

The children of incarcerated parents have been a relatively invisible population. More and more children are being affected by the incarceration of a parent. These young people are already at high risk along several dimensions and tend to live under conditions characterised by poverty, instability and diminished access to sources of support. The study presented in this research explores the physical, social and psychological conditions of children in Iran affected by the incarceration of the mother, thereby contributing to the international literature by describing the problem of children of prisoners in Iran. Here we describe in an international perspective the physical and social conditions with which these children are confronted. The study comprises 33 children who had spent some time in prison with their mothers but were then moved to welfare centres. The most prevalent illnesses of these children were infectious diseases, bruises, wounds on lips and fractures of the hand. The Vineland Social Maturity Scale indicated that the children's locomotion and socialisation skills were relatively low.     

Addressing Unmet Needs in Incarcerated Women With Co-occurring Disorders

ABSTRACT

This article will present findings related to critical needs in a group of 281 incarcerated women with co-occurring disorders. The women completed interviews while incarcerated and again at various time points after community reentry. Findings revealed that the number of basic needs increased over time, and a low level of social support was related to negative outcomes. Recommendations for this population include holistic evaluation assessments and integrated treatment plans that encourage staff to comprehensively assess clients at intake and link them to support services during and after incarceration. Implications of this female empowerment model will be discussed.     

A Study of Social Workers' Job Satisfaction as Based on an Optimal Model of Care for the Terminally Ill

ABSTRACT

To address the need for empirical evidence on how culture is and should be addressed in child protection work in Australia to ensure equity in service delivery, this study reviewed 120 case files of children from ethnic-minority, Aboriginal, and Anglo backgrounds and conducted 46 qualitative interviews with ethnic-minority client families and the caseworkers who service them. Overall, the results indicated that the issue of culture for ethnic-minority families receives less consideration than it does for Aboriginal families and more than it does for Anglo families, indicating that cross-cultural parity is yet to be achieved. To ensure equity in service delivery, it is important that culture is neither overlooked nor used to essentialize the needs and experiences of ethnic-minority families; balancing the amount of attention that culture receives in child protection work may help “normalize the novel”—that is, reduce the use of cultural stereotypes without reducing the significance of cultural factors in child protection work with culturally nonmainstream families. Mandatory consultation with “multicultural” caseworkers may help get the balance right and warrants future research.     

Asylum, children's rights and social work

Although it is only a minority of displaced and persecuted people globally who seek refuge in ‘Western’ countries, they meet an increasingly hostile reception. This paper focuses on the situation facing children seeking asylum with or without their families in Britain and Australia, and the implications for children's rights and for social work. The policy background and its racist foundations in both countries are outlined. Despite geopolitical differences, there are unnerving parallels. Legislative changes and policy complexity signal increasingly punitive attitudes towards asylum seekers. The situation of children and families in the community is discussed in terms of the exclusion of asylum seekers from basic rights, and specific issues for separated children. Even more damaging is the incarceration of children and families in detention centres, and the emerging research is explored. In both countries there is widespread flouting of children's rights, and children also feature as pawns in ideological contests. However, they also act autonomously and illustrate an inclusive model of citizenship. The role of social workers in the statutory and voluntary sectors is considered, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges for social work of avoiding collusion with repressive policies and actively promoting human rights.     

Socialization in the Context of Risk and Psychopathology: Maternal Emotion Socialization in Children of Incarcerated Mothers

Children of incarcerated mothers are at increased risk for psychological, social, and emotional maladaptation. This research investigates whether perceived maternal socialization of sadness and anger may moderate these outcomes in a sample of 154 children (53.9 percent boys, 61.7 percent Black, M age = 9.38, range: 6–12), their 118 mothers (64.1 percent Black), and 118 caregivers (74.8 percent female, 61.9 percent grandparents, 63.2 percent Black). Using mother, caregiver, and child report, seven maternal socialization strategies were assessed in their interaction with incarceration‐specific risk experiences predicting children's adjustment. For sadness socialization, the results indicated that among children reporting maternal emotion‐focused responses, incarceration‐specific risk predicted increases in psychological problems, depressive symptoms, increased emotional lability, and poorer emotion regulation. For children who perceived a problem‐focused response, incarceration‐specific risk did not predict outcomes. There were no significant interactions with incarceration‐specific risk and perceived maternal anger socialization strategies. These results indicate a critical need to examine how socialization processes may operate differently for children raised in atypical socializing contexts.     

Empathic Action and Family Resilience: A Narrative Examination of the Benefits of Helping Others

ABSTRACT

Empathy is identified as a protective factor that has been helpful for children considered at high risk for poor mental health and social functioning due to experiencing stressful circumstances such as family violence, substance abuse of a parent, or poverty. Yet, little is known about its relevance to a family's ability to overcome adversity. This study examined the narratives of 20 resilient families who maintained family functioning despite experiencing a multitude of risk factors including poverty, death of a child, significant health problems, or substance abuse problems. Narrative analysis was used to identify the ways families situated empathic actions within their stories of resilience. Findings suggest families developed increased compassion for others as a result of their own experiences with loss, trauma, or stress and discussed how helping others increased their ability to cope with the challenges they faced. Future research and practice implications are outlined and support the usefulness of strengths-based concepts and interventions.     

Facilitating Future Planning for Ageing Adults with Intellectual Disabilities Using a Planning Tool that Incorporates Quality of Life Domains

Abstract

When ageing families of an adult with a lifelong disability embark on a process of planning for the future, they generally think in terms of making hard and fast decisions about: (1) where the person with the disability is going to live when “the time comes”; and (2) who will take on their direct care. However, there is common trepidation among many families when it comes to launching their son or daughter with a lifelong disability. Generally, many families ignore, neglect, or simply do not engage in making any formal plans at all. When ageing families do make plans, they often focus only a place to live. This can mean that other significant aspects of a person's life (i.e., quality of life factors) are negated or neglected. Reviewing population demographics for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, it was ascertained that a sizable number of parents will be aging in the near future and that some formalized assistance for future planning was needed. To this end, a planning instrument, What the Future Holds, was developed in order to help families and other carers with planning for the future and involving a variety of quality of life domains, including health, financial, vocational, social, civil, and residential well-being.     

Social work for vulnerable and marginalized people during COVID-19 in Japan

During the Coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19), working conditions became increasingly difficult for social workers, as they had to deal with new challenges and added workloads. This study describes the difficulties faced by social workers of the Self-Reliance Support System in Japan and clarifies the solution for each difficulty while conducting their duties to support vulnerable people during COVID-19. To this end, we conducted an open-ended questionnaire survey and an interview survey. The data were analyzed using qualitative coding. The results showed that the difficulties faced in consultation support work included supporting hitherto socially invisible groups such as sole traders and foreigners. Social workers also faced an ethical dilemma, as they could not provide support to clients who “did not try to solve their problems” or for whom “interventional attempts did not lead to counseling support” and who only sought benefits at the risk of becoming isolated and impoverished. Following this, consultants collaborated to resolve such difficulties while maximizing the use of various local resources. The study's findings clarify that it would be effective to understand the difficulties faced by social workers to obtain hints toward their resolution.     

‘Poor prison flowers’: convict mothers and their children in Ireland, 1853–1900

Pregnant women and mothers were among the thousands of individuals who were sentenced to at least three years’ penal servitude and admitted to the nineteenth-century Irish female convict prison. While some babies were born behind bars, others were permitted to accompany their convicted mothers into the prison after the penal practice of transportation had ceased. Other dependent children were separated from their convicted mothers for years, cared for by family members or friends, or accommodated in Ireland’s growing web of institutions. Using individual case studies, this article focuses on convict mothers and their young offspring. It draws attention to the increasing restrictions on the admission of infants that were imposed as the nineteenth century progressed, the problems that children of various ages in the penal system seemed to pose for officials, and the difficulties faced by incarcerated mothers who wished to maintain communication with their offspring. This article argues that while there were benefits to parenting within the confines of the prison, sentences of penal servitude had a significant impact on the lives of dependent offspring by dislocating families, separating siblings, or initiating institutional or other care that broke familial bonds permanently. In so doing, the article reveals attitudes towards motherhood as well as female criminality and institutionalization generally during this period and sheds light on an aspect of convict life unique to the women’s prison.     

Managing the Family: Productivity, Scheduling and the Male Veto

This paper argues that research, analysis and policy innovations focused on how households combine paid work with care responsibilities are driven to too great a degree by preconceptions of “the problem” that do not take sufficient account of how families themselves understand their work and care roles and the choices they are making. The evidence of 246 SOCCARE interviews across five European countries (Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and the UK) is that the variables that are conventionally accepted as having fundamental significance (family‐friendly policies and generous care services, flexible working hours, women's work–life preferences, family type, national labour markets, cultural differences) are less important than is often suggested. More important are time pressures and the idiosyncratic factors that constrain the work and care timetables that families are able to construct. We characterize these as “scheduling problems”. They occupied a large part of the accounts of their lives provided by our respondents and are a primary dimension within which their combinations of paid work and care responsibilities need to be understood. The difficulties our respondents faced in coordinating the work and care activities of their families bear a striking similarity to the problems described in the operations research literature on small businesses. Within the context of these scheduling problems a second important factor emerged: the preferences and behaviour of men who played a critical, though often passive, part in the construction of work and care timetables of the families. We characterize this effect as the “the male veto”.     

“If they misbehaved,we took a stick to discipline them”: Refugee mothers' struggles raising children in the United States

Although there are compelling examples of stress put upon refugee families, there is little systematic attention placed upon how the refugee women themselves view child‐rearing. In this exploratory research, refugee women's narratives concerning their understanding and perceptions of child‐rearing in the United States are studied. Seventeen refugee women raising children living in the Greater Portland region in Maine were interviewed. While resettling in the United States, the participants shared being overburdened by the loss of social structures that supported their parenting beliefs and strategies back home. They perpetually encounter cultural conflicts in the United States that result in a continuous process of contradictory interpretations and negotiations while rearing and disciplining children. Recommendations are provided for service providers working with this population. Professionals have to be cognizant of the hierarchical decision‐making and retributive strategies used by refugee families when disciplining children. Tools, that is, explaining, teaching, and rewarding children for coping with parenting challenges without resorting to punitive discipline methods can be introduced to refugee families. Professionals need to focus on providing refugee families with basic needs and addressing social and emotional challenges so that they can better integrate with the new communities as they rebuild their lives.     

Being there for my grandchild – grandparents' responses to their grandchildren's exposure to domestic violence

Grandparents whose grandchildren are exposed to domestic violence are faced with some unique challenges in their grandparenting, which have thus far been little discussed in research. This paper discusses the narratives of 10 Swedish grandparents whose grandchildren have been exposed to violence towards their mother. The aim was to explore grandparents' narrations of their responses in the face of violence, and their understanding of the role they play in their grandchildren's social networks. Two significant responses are discussed: ‘being there’ and ‘acknowledging the independence and self‐determination of the adult children’. Grandparents experienced these responses as contradictory and felt powerless when it came to their possibilities to protect their grandchildren. The paper suggests that grandparents could be a resource for domestic violence services, and social work practice needs to assess the roles of grandparents of children exposed to domestic violence. Social workers should consider the challenges these grandparents are facing and what support they may need in order to support their grandchildren.     

Following Families: Working Lone‐Mother Families and their Children

Analysis of poverty dynamics based on large‐scale survey data shows that there is limited mobility across the income distribution for most individuals and families. This includes lone parents, who are one of the groups most likely to stay poor over time. This high income poverty risk is reduced for those lone parents who are in employment and who receive state financial support through tax credits to supplement their wages. But income security in work can be difficult to achieve. This article reports on longitudinal qualitative research which has involved repeat interviews with lone mothers and their children over a period of three to four years. The analysis explores the experiences of sustaining employment while living on a low, but complex, income and highlights the challenges faced in seeking financial security in this context.