Child-Friendly Visits for Children with Incarcerated Mothers

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

As incarceration rates continue to rise in the U.S., so has the number of children affected by incarceration, with over 5 million children experiencing a parent’s incarceration at any given time. Although family visits are essential in maintaining parent-child relationships and decreasing recidivism, many corrections facilities have restrictive, family-unfriendly protocols (e.g., limited or no physical contact). This presentation highlights an example of child-friendly visit as part of a summer camp for children with incarcerated mothers. Using both qualitative and quantitative measures, we: 1) describe the implementation of child-friendly visits, and 2) explore the emotional expression and engagement of the children before, during, and after two child-friendly visits.

As part of a 5 day summer camp, 38 children (aged 7-14) from 24 families participated in 2 family-friendly visits at a prison where their mothers were incarcerated. Visits included games and activities, shared meals, and one-on-one time to connect in a context that allowed unlimited physical contact, choice in activities, and free movement across designated spaces.

A modified version of the Jail-Prison Observation Checklist (JPOC) was used to assess children’s emotional expression and engagement during visits. Trained researchers rated 6 child behaviors (e.g., paying attention to parent) and 10 child emotions (e.g., happy, sad) in vivo, starting from the child’s entry to the facility until the child’s departure (see Table 1). Controlling for child age and gender, two-way repeated measures MANOVA results indicate significant within-subjects differences of time (F=2.835, p=.042), with tests of within-subjects contrasts revealing significant decrease in children’s somber/serious behaviors from visit 1 to visit 2 (F=4.373, p=.044). Significant between-subjects differences emerged at the multivariate level based on sibling presence at the camp (F=2.958, p=.036), with pairwise comparisons revealing significantly more avoidant behaviors at time 2 (F=4.198, p=.048) for children with a sibling present at camp. A trend (F=4.074, p=.052) also indicated that children with a sibling present displayed more engagement with their mothers from time 1 to time 2 than those without a sibling present.

Researchers completed participant observations for each day of the camp, recording children’s emotions and behaviors. Preliminary results from qualitative analysis suggest that most children experienced a wide variety of emotions across the week, with increased positive and negative emotions before and after the visits (see Figure 1).

This presentation highlights how child-friendly visits can be implemented in a prison setting. It is the first study to use observational methods documenting how children emotionally react to child-friendly visits with imprisoned mothers and has implications for supporting children during parental incarceration.

Authors

• Ashleigh Engbretson, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Kaitlyn Pritzl, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kerrie Fanning, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alyssa Meurer, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julie A. Poehlmann-Tynan, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author