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Keeping Families Together: The Importance of Maintaining Mother-Child Contact for Incarcerated Women

NCJ Number
226330
Journal
Women and Criminal Justice Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: January-March 2009 Pages: 37-59
Author(s)
Zoann K. Snyder
Date Published
January 2009
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study examined if and/or how women and children remain connected during incarceration and the impact that such contact has on their relationships.
Abstract
Results suggest that keeping mothers and children connected may produce positive behavioral and emotional outcomes for both the mothers and their children that may reduce correctional costs and increase community safety. Increases in the population of incarcerated women in the United States have resulted in the separation of growing numbers of mothers and children, with negative effects of dividing families noted for both the mothers and the children. The study examined efforts at keeping imprisoned mothers and children connected through a visitation program. One-on-one interviews were conducted with women prisoners who shared their perspectives about how their children were coping with the separation, their concerns for their children, their views of their roles as mothers, and their needs for after release. The women interviewed included participants in the Mother Offspring Life Development (MOLD) program at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women and a comparison group of mothers not in the program. The MOLD program provides classes in parenting, child development, and personal development, and onsite overnight and day visits for women prisoners and their children. References