A Developmental Approach to Work with Children of Prisoners: Mother-Child Reunification
Bella is 29 months old; her mother Natalia is in prison.
Natalia's father was incarcerated for most of her childhood; Natalia's
mother was a critical and intrusive caregiver and the mother-daughter
relationship was strained. For example, when Natalia was raped at 14,
she chose not to tell her mother. Soon after the rape, Natalia became
involved with a charismatic, gang-affiliated drug dealer at her high
school. An honor student and star athlete, Natalia was 17 and two weeks
pregnant with Bella when her boyfriend committed a robbery using her
car. Natalia was charged and convicted as an accessory to the crime.
While in jail awaiting sentencing, she enrolled in the MIRACLE Project,
which provides services to pregnant and postpartum prisoners and their
infants. Sentenced to 12 years of incarceration, of which she will
serve 6, Natalia gave birth shortly after arriving at the prison and has
never lived with Bella. She continues to receive MIRACLE
services.
Derek is 10. He and his brother Sean were raised by their mother,
Jasmine, who was imprisoned for DUI-related manslaughter when Derek was 6.
Jasmine is a second-generation prisoner; when she was a young child, her
father was incarcerated for sexually abusing her. After Jasmine's arrest,
her sons lived with their father Mark, a working alcoholic who has a
limited criminal history of domestic violence. Last year, Mark moved
to the northern part of the state with Sean, and Derek stayed with his
paternal grandparents. The family home is 150 miles from the prison and
Derek visits Jasmine once a month in ChildSpace, a mother-child visitation
project.
Tiana is 6 and Allonya is 3; their father is deceased and their
mother Alyssa is incarcerated for drug possession with a sentence
enhancement for gang membership. Alyssa's parents served long prison
sentences for robbery and Alyssa was raised by her grandmother. Tiana
has lived with Alyssa but Allonya has not. Both girls are in the care
of maternal relatives in another state. They have visited Alyssa three
times in the last four years. Alyssa, who experiences extreme
parenting-related anxiety, participates in classes and groups through
the Mothers' Institute.
Two-month-old twins Jade and Jaden are the youngest of seven children
born to their mother Dominique. The twins live with their father, who
is on parole. Dominique is serving 13 months in prison for petty
theft; this is her second prison term but she has served multiple short
jail sentences. She was raised by her father and a series of
stepmothers. Dominique's children are in four different placements; her
oldest son is in prison and the next oldest was released from juvenile
detention to a foster home just before the twins were born. Dominique's
father brings the twins to visit her in ChildSpace two or three times a
month.
By the last half of the 20th century, there was a large body of
empirical research documenting intergenerational involvement in the
criminal justice system. Studies had established that children of
criminal parents were more likely to get arrested or incarcerated than
other children and had demonstrated that this phenomenon was likely to
occur whether or not the children were raised by their
arrested/incarcerated parents.[1]
In response to these findings, the
Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents was established in 1989 with
a mission to prevent intergenerational crime and incarceration.
The Center has pursued its mission through the development of model
services for children of prisoners and their families. Over 20 years,
the Center has designed and conducted more than 60 educational,
therapeutic and family reunification projects. These have included a
number of core projects such as MotherRight, FatherRight, MIRACLE and
ChildSpace; these programs have offered research-based,
relationship-focused services for families, and reflect the
empirical and theoretical foundations of the Center's work.
Page: 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5
Next page
| 
