Factors Associated With Young Children’s Opportunities for Maintaining Family Relationships During Maternal Incarceration*

Abstract: Children affected by maternal incarceration experience challenges maintaining continuous family relationships because of changes in caregivers, separation from siblings, and limited contact with mothers. In this mixed-method study, we investigated maternal and contextual factors associated with continuity in family relationships of children living with relatives because of their mother's incarceration. Interviews with 92 incarcerated mothers revealed that children were more likely to live in continuous caregiving arrangements when mothers felt that the caregiver was their choice, when children lived with fathers, and when the mother-caregiver relationship was more positive. In addition, most mothers were concerned about the quality or stability of care when expressing a preference for children's living arrangements. Key Words: child, family, incarceration, kinship care, stability, visitation. A growing number of young children in the United States are affected by maternal incarceration (Harrison & Karberg, 2004; Mumola, 2000). Because of changes in living arrangements that occur following maternal imprisonment, children's family relationships with siblings, nonmaternal caregivers, and mothers can be characterized as uncertain and discontinuous when a parent is imprisoned for several reasons (Enos, 2001). First, it appears that most children experience a change in nonmaternal caregivers more than once during a mother's incarceration (Gabel & Johnston, 1995; Seymour, 2001), potentially disrupting their developing relationships with caregivers (Poehlmann, 2005c). Second, some children are separated from their siblings when their mothers go to prison (Gabel & Johnston), further contributing to uncertain and disrupted family relationships. Third, less than half of the incarcerated mothers receive visits from their children (Mumola; Snell, 1994), thus limiting children's opportunities for sustaining relationships with mothers. Most mothers express preferences regarding where their children are placed during the time they are incarcerated, often with the hope of providing stability and safety in their children's lives (Enos, 2001). Maternal preferences for placement are influenced by the relationships between the incarcerated mother, the caregiver, and the child (Enos, 2001), and they may also be associated with the continuity and stability of children's family relationships following a mother's incarceration. Using ecological and relational theories as guides (Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994; Miller, 1986, 1993), the goals of this article were to identify maternal, family, and child factors associated with three aspects of family relationship continuity for young children placed with relatives during maternal incarceration: stability of children's placements, separation from siblings, and frequency of contact with mothers. Identification of maternal and contextual factors that may support or hinder children's opportunities for maintaining family relationships during maternal incarceration will help inform preventive intervention efforts that seek to enhance young children's family relationships. In this article, we examined opportunities for maintaining continuous family relationships (e.g., access to mothers, stable caregiving), rather than focusing on relationship or maintenance processes per se. Children's Shifting Family Relationships Children of incarcerated mothers are at risk for a host of negative outcomes, including separation reactions and attachment insecurity (Poehlmann, 2005c), behavior problems (Hagen, Myers, & Mackintosh, 2005), cognitive delays (Poehlmann, 2005a), and delinquency (Murray & Farrington, 2005; Murray, Janson, & Farrington, 2007). However, pathways leading from the early experience of maternal incarceration to negative outcomes or resilience have not been studied empirically. Maintenance of close relationships with family members is one factor that may help buffer the effects of maternal incarceration and lead to more positive outcomes for young children (Poehlmann et al. …