Children of Incarcerated Parents

Challenges and Promise

Marian S. Harris, J. Mark Eddy, Marian S. Harris, J. Mark Eddy

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351334068
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery

This book highlights the myriad factors that can impact the children of incarcerated parents. It is no secret that the United States continues to be the leading nation for the incarceration of men and women, and this this large prison population includes approximately 120,000 incarcerated mothers and 1.1 million incarcerated fathers. Incarceration of a parent is recognized as an 'adverse childhood experience', an acute or chronic situation that for most people is stressful and potentially traumatic. Children of incarcerated parents may experience other adverse childhood experiences such as poverty, homelessness, parental substance abuse and other mental health problems, and family violence. The chapters in this book document some of the challenges as well as some promising ways that can help parents and families begin to meet these challenges. It is our hope that the compendium of chapters presented in this book will be a resource for practitioners, policy makers, educators, researchers, and advocates in their work to ensure that the children of incarcerated parents, their caregivers, and their mothers and fathers, are provided the support they need to address the challenges they face during and after parental incarceration. This book was originally published as a special issue of Smith College Studies in Social Work.

Early Relational Health: Infants’ Experiences Living with Their Incarcerated Mothers

Marie-Celeste Condon, PhD

ABSTRACT

Little is known about the experiences and inner worlds of infants who live with their parents in prison-based residential programs. Infant observation and qualitative methods were used to study the experiences of seventeen infants living with their incarcerated mothers in a women’s correctional facility. Glimpses into their inner worlds provide insights into factors that hearten and hinder early relational health. Practitioners and parents can use a relational health approach to recognize and cultivate budding capacities in infant-parent relationships. The researcher discusses the usefulness and relevance of infants’ accounts for communities of practice and research.

Many infants in the United States have incarcerated parents (Pattillo, Weiman, & Western, 2004; Rebecca Project, 2010; Villanueva, 2009) and are at risk for poor social outcomes, partially as a result of disrupted attachment relationships (Cassidy, Poehlmann, & Shaver, 2010; Kjellstrand & Eddy, 2011; Lange, 2008; Myerson, Otteson, & Ryba, 2010). Although rigorous studies are few, parent–child relationship-focused interventions conducted in jails, as part of prison-based residential parenting programs, and during community-based alternative sentencing programs appear to positively affect parenting, attachments and infant and child behavior (Baradon, Fonagy, Bland, Lenard, & Sleed, 2008; Byrne, Goshin, & Joestl, 2010; Cassidy et al., 2010, 2010; Condon, Carver, Crawley, Freeman, & Van Cleave, 2010; Eddy et al., 2008; Fearn & Parker, 2004; Goshin & Byrne, 2009; Sleed, Baradon, & Fonagy, 2013). As more such programs are developed and tested, a body of research is accruing that provides insight into life stressors and felt experiences of incarcerated parents that can be used to help shape content and process, at least in regard to parents (Berry & Eigenberg, 2003; Borelli, Goshin, Joestl, Clark, & Byrne, 2010; Borja, Nurius, & Eddy, 2015; Fritz & Whitecare, 2016; Harris, 2014; Kjellstrand & Eddy, 2011; Whaley, Moe, Eddy, & Dougherty, 2008). Little is known about the experiences and inner worlds of infants and young children of incarcerated parents (Condon Weisenburg, 2011).

What can infants communicate to us about their experiences? Quite a bit, it turns out. Attachment theory is the frame of reference for this study. Researchers working within that frame have pioneered the use of techniques to help in understanding infants’ experiences. In the 1940s, John Bowlby and Esther Bick developed a clinical technique called infant observation. It has long been used to hone clinicians’ understanding of the situated meanings of infant behaviors, infants’ inner worlds, and the psychodynamics of infant–parent relationships (Bick, 1964/1987; Waddell, 2013). Work by scholars, practitioners, and researchers that is particularly relevant to the work conducted in this study include descriptions of attachment behavior (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Cassidy, 1999; Powell, Cooper, Hoffman, & Marvin, 2013; Spieker, Nelson, & Condon, 2011), how attachment relationships develop (Brazelton & Cramer, 1990; Cassidy, 1999; Crittenden, 2008; Karen, 1994; Stern, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2002), parents’ states of mind (Crittenden & Landini, 2011; Powell, Cooper, Hoffman, & Marvin, 2007; Shlafer & Poehlman, 2010; Shlafer, Raby, Laler, Hesemeyer, & Roisman, 2015; Stern, 1995), factors that influence relationship development (Belsky, 1999; Berlin, Ziv, Amaya-Jackson, & Greenberg, 2005; Crittenden & Claussen, 2000; Fraiberg, Adelson, & Shapiro, 1975; Howes, 1999; McHale, 2007; Sameroff, McDonough, & Rosenblum, 2004; Shlafer, Raby, Laler, Hesemeyer, & Roisman, 2015), the inner worlds of infants (Lieberman, 1993), infants’ attachment models (Johnson, Dweck, & Chen, 2007), infant mental health (Zeanah, 2009), and infant mental health interventions (Cicchetti, Rogosch, & Toth, 2006; Katz, Lederman, & Osofsky, 2011; Lieberman & Amaya-Jackson, 2005; Lombardi & Bogle, 2004; Makariev & Shaver, 2010; Osofsky, 2004). Collectively, this body of work influences policy as well as practice (Jones Harden, 2007) and the development of new research paradigms and tools. A relational health paradigm that has proved useful in describing trends in infant–parent interactions over time (Condon, Willis, & Eddy, 2016) also proved useful in understanding the relationship experiences of infants in the RPP.

Early relational health is a function of overarching emotional tone and mutual competencies that can be observed during interactions between an infant or toddler and a parent or caregiver. The fundamental concept is mutuality, meaning relational health is not the sum of individuals’ skill sets. Relational health is a categorical description of a relationship between a young child and adult. When relational health is robust the following mutual capacities develop during the first 1000 days of life: engagement; enjoyment; responsiveness; attention; pacing; initiation; imitation; cooperation; mutual ability to recognize the other person’s affect, develop a shared goal, and respond to challenges; and mutual engagement in pretend play, complex communication and language, and mutual ability to build bridges between ideas (Condon et al., 2016). In relationships with positive overarching emotional tone, the parent and child develop and practice mutual capacities that sustain and strengthen their connection with one another almost effortlessly. Positive overarching emotion does not mean there are never missteps, ruptures, and upsets, only that a sense of warm connection predominates, and that ruptures can be readily repaired. Over time, these dyads develop and sustain secure, mutually heartening relationships. When overarching emotion in interactions is less than positive or negative, efforts to connect are constricted or stymied. Negative overarching emotion does not mean there is never laughter, only that missteps, ruptures, and upsets occur frequently, and are not easily repaired. In relationships with less than positive or negative overarching emotional tone, one or the other person may demonstrate skills but mutual capacities are weak or absent. These dyads are at risk for sustained relationship difficulties.

This study focuses on the early experiences, inner worlds, and relational health of seventeen infants living with their incarcerated mothers in a women’s correctional facility. The term “inner world” pertains to the desires, ideas, expectations, and preferences that infants conveyed through emotional expressions, shifts in attention, and a wide range of behaviors during interactions with their mothers and environment. The infants and mothers lived together in a special unit known as the Residential Parenting Program (RPP). Monday through Friday, infants also participated in an on-site Early Head Start (EHS) intervention program. Through observations and interviews that occurred over a period of 2 years, thick descriptions of infants’ experiences and interactions in different contexts with their mothers and other people provided glimpses into infants’ relationship experiences and inner worlds. A researcher (and the author of this report) who is a social welfare scholar, early childhood special educator, and infant mental health practitioner conducted all observations and interviews. This report focuses on two key issues: variability in early relational health for mothers and infants living in the RPP and factors that impacted infants’ experiences and the development of infant–mother relationships.

Method

Qualitative methods were used to gather and analyze content from infant observations, participant observations, and interviews with infants’ mothers and other caregivers. Protections for participants were reviewed and monitored by the Internal Review Board of the University of Washington.

Sources of information

Participants

Seventeen mothers and their infants participated in infant observations. Mothers were diverse in terms of race, language, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, health, social class, and culture. Ages of mothers ranged from 18 to 42 years. Ages of infants ranged from newborn to 29 months, and 41% of infants were firstborn children. At the time of this study, 34% of the infants had disabilities, Individual Family Service Plans, physical or occupational therapy, and early childhood special education services. In terms of race, 5% of infants were African American, 12% were Native American, 18% were Latino/a, 24% were mixed race, and 41% were White. Most mothers spoke English with their infants (82%). A minority (29%) had high school diplomas or GEDs at the time of their incarceration. Like most incarcerated women in the United States, these mothers struggled with addictions, post-traumatic stress, and the stress associated with life in prison (Borja et al., 2015; Fritz & Whitecare, 2016; Harris, 2014). Chemical dependency was a factor in the health of 88% of the mothers. Many mothers struggled with mental health problems: 29% had dual diagnoses, including mood disorders, and 41% had severe trauma histories and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Context

The women’s correctional facility within which this study was conducted is unusual in that, despite generally operating at 117% of capacity, it offers an RPP for eligible offenders who will be released within 30 months of the birth of their infant (Condon Weisenburg, 2011; Fearn & Parker, 2004; Kopec, 2010; Quillen, 2011). A collaborative partnership between the correctional facility and a local EHS program conceived and sustains the RPP. The partnership began in 1999. The RPP allows certain pregnant offenders to return to the corrections center with their infants after delivery in a community hospital. Before acceptance into the RPP and the birth of their children, offenders must meet several criteria including (a) serving a sentence of 30 months or less; (b) completing a satisfactory essay and written application; (c) a records review that shows no outstanding warrants, no major infractions since entering the institution, no open children’s protective services cases, and no convictions for violent crimes, crimes against children, or arson; (d) satisfactory in-person individual interviews with corrections counselors; and (e) an in-person interview with a panel of corrections and EHS staff.

Infants remain in their mothers’ care in the RPP until their mothers’ release. The RPP is segregated from the general population in the minimum security section of the corrections facility. Each mother and infant lives in an individual room. Up to 20 dyads can be enrolled in the RPP at a time. Notably, the 20 rooms that are dedicated to 20 RPP dyads are actually capable of housing 80 offenders. From the age of 6 weeks, infants are also in the care of experienced EHS infant and toddler educators in a high-quality, on-site child development center. EHS educators provide relationship-focused therapeutic care for children on Monday through Friday while their mothers are in school or at work. They also provide individual “home” visits in mothers and infants’ RPP rooms, parenting classes, referrals, and other support.

The RPP aims to reduce recidivism and improve the outlook for children affected by maternal incarceration by enhancing the quality of mother–infant relationships, parenting knowledge and skills, and children’s development during the first 2 years of life. Despite the many positive aspects of the RPP, prison life is stressful and particular expectations within the RPP may make it even more stressful. There are higher expectations for offenders in the RPP than there are for offenders in the general population. The risk of expulsion from the RPP constantly overshadows mothers and infants. Sometimes an offender in the RPP is demoted for rule infractions before she and her child complete the program. In this case, mother and child are immediately separated, the mother is moved to a higher-level custody unit, and the child is sent to live with someone outside the prison. Infants and mothers cannot return to the RPP after expulsion. Despite many stressors, most mothers complete the program with their children, and after release most have not returned to prison (Fearn & Parker, 2004; Kopec, 2010).

Data collection

The researcher used ethnographic and observational techniques (Atkinson & Hammersley, 1994; Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 2007) to generate “thick” descriptions of infants’ experiences; circumstances in which infants in an RPP develop relationships with their mothers and other caregivers; and situated meanings of infants’ behaviors (Sandelowski, 2000). Specifically, participant observation, interviews (Mishler, 1986) and a reflective technique called infant observation (Waddell, 2013) were used to gather redundant content about infants’ experiences and the context within which they develop relationships with their mothers and other caregivers. Data were collected over a nearly 2-year period of weekly visits (year 1) and twice-a-month visits (year 2). Altogether, 1390 hours of participant observation, infant observations, and interviews generated 1300 pages of field notes and transcriptions.

Infant observation

Seventeen infants were observed with their mothers from birth or early infancy until the mothers were released from prison. Each observation lasted 45 minutes to 1 hour. Videotapes of observations were not allowed. To understand the situated meanings of infants’ behaviors, the researcher also observed infants with other caregivers besides their mothers, for example EHS educators, incarcerated caregivers, and other RPP mothers. Each infant and mother were observed in six specific contexts: (a) first moments after birth in the hospital or the mother’s return to the RPP with her newborn; (b) routine transitions, separations, and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction
• 1 Early Relational Health: Infants’ Experiences Living with Their Incarcerated Mothers
• 2 Incarcerated Mothers: Trauma and Attachment Issues
• 3 Substance Use among Youth with Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Parents
• 4 Variations in the Life Histories of Incarcerated Parents by Race and Ethnicity: Implications for Service Provision
• 5 A Statewide Parenting Alternative Sentencing Program: Description and Preliminary Outcomes
• 6 The Moderating Effect of Living with a Child Before Incarceration on Postrelease Outcomes Related to a Prison-Based Parent Management Training Program
• 7 Building a Tailored, Multilevel Prevention Strategy to Support Children and Families Affected by Parental Incarceration
• Index