Supporting families and children of mothers in jail: an integrated child welfare and criminal justice strategy.

Charged with the responsibility for protecting children and preserving families, the child welfare system needs to pay special attention to women in jail and their families. Jails provide an opportunity to reach families early in the criminal justice process. This article explores why working with women in jail and their children is within the scope of the child welfare system's mandate; describes the pressures on the criminal justice and child welfare systems that prevent either from working effectively with these families; and suggests a collaborative strategy for working more effectively with mothers in jail and their children. On any one day, the 3,300 jails in the United States hold more than half a million people, including 59,296 women, at a cost of more than $9.6 billion to local governments [Gilliard & Beck 1998; Cornelius 1996]. Women are the fastest growing population in jail; their numbers have increased more than 300% since 1985, largely as a result of a dramatic increase in the number of women incarcerated for nonviolent drug or drugrelated offenses [Beck & Gilliard 1997; Snell 1992]. Although the direct expenses of operating and constructing jails are staggering, they do not begin to reflect the costs to children, families, and communities of locking up an ever-increasing number of nonviolent drug offenders-particularly women who are often the sole caregivers for their children. In fact, mothers in jail typically leave behind two or more children [Snell 1992]. Administered by local governments, jails are the entry gate into the criminal justice system. Jails confine pretrial detainees (inmates who were arrested and are awaiting trial). Children and families are particularly at risk during this time because pretrial detainees do not know how long they are likely to be away from their children. With little help or even access to a telephone, jailed mothers must find caregivers to look after their children. These caregivers, in turn, often assume care for the children with few resources to handle their new responsibility. Meanwhile, the children's lives may be turned upside down as they are shuffled from home to home with little information about what has happened to their mothers. In addition to holding pretrial detainees, jails confine women who have been convicted of minor crimes, typically misdemeanors, with sentences of less than one year. Often referred to as "sentenced" inmates, these individuals will not serve their sentences in prisons, which are run by state or federal governments and hold inmates convicted of felonies. Unfortunately, jails generally lack the rehabilitative programs often found in prisons, such as drug treatment, educational opportunities, and parenting classes. Although women sentenced to jail have committed less serious crimes than those in prisons, their lives are often marred by the same risk factors-including substance abuse and long histories of victimization-that can be so damaging to children and families. Without help, many of these women will be in and out of jail for a large portion of their children's lives. Charged with responsibility for protecting children and preserving families, the child welfare system needs to pay special attention to women in jail and their families. Jails provide an opportunity to reach families early in the criminal justice process, when finding a stable home for the children is of critical concern. Jails can also provide an opening for an effective intervention with families whose children are already in out-of-home care or at serious risk of placement. This article explores why working with women in jail and their children and families is within the scope of the child welfare system's mandate and describes the pressures on the criminal justice and child welfare systems that can prevent either system from working effectively with this population. It concludes by suggesting a collaborative strategy for working more effectively with mothers in jail and their children that can serve the interests of both systems. …