Children’s Contact with Incarcerated Parents

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

   PDF

2. Introduction and Literature Review: Is Parent–Child Contact During Parental Incarceration Beneficial?

   • Rebecca J. Shlafer, Ann Booker Loper, Leah Schillmoeller

   Pages 1-21

3. Differential Effects of Type of Children’s Contact with Their Jailed Mothers and Children’s Behavior Problems

   • Danielle Dallaire, Janice Zeman, Todd Thrash

   Pages 23-38

4. Young Children’s Behavioral and Emotional Reactions to Plexiglas and Video Visits with Jailed Parents

   • Julie Poehlmann-Tynan, Hilary Runion, Cynthia Burnson, Sarah Maleck, Lindsay Weymouth, Kierra Pettit et al.

   Pages 39-58

5. Associations Among Mother–Child Contact, Parenting Stress, and Mother and Child Adjustment Related to Incarceration

   • Heather H. McClure, Joann Wu Shortt, J. Mark Eddy, Alice Holmes, Stan Van Uum, Evan Russell et al.

   Pages 59-82

6. Children’s Contact with Incarcerated Parents: Summary and Recommendations

   • Julie Poehlmann-Tynan

   Pages 83-92

7. Policy Commentary: The Research Evidence Policymakers Need to Build Better Public Policy for Children of Incarcerated Parents

   • Karen Bogenschneider

   Pages 93-113

8. Back Matter

   Pages 115-115

   PDF

​This Brief explores the potential effects of parent-child contact during incarceration on child and adult relationships, well-being, and parenting as well as corrections-related issues, such as institutional behavior and recidivism. It presents a literature review on what is currently known about parent-child contact during parental incarceration in addition to several empirical studies, followed by a summary, commentary, and briefing report. The empirical studies focus on contact in both jail and prison settings. Because jails in the United States handle more admissions per year than prisons – and studies of jailed parents and their children are not common in the literature – two of the three studies presented focus on jails. Following the empirical studies, a summary that includes recommendations for policy and intervention is presented, along with a commentary that explores what researchers need to do to make effective policy recommendations. This Brief is an essential resource for policy makers and related professionals, graduate students, and researchers in child and school psychology, family studies, public health, social work, law/criminal justice, and sociology.​

• Barrier visits between incarcerated parents and children
• Corrections and parent-child visitation
• Depression in incarcerated mothers
• Emotion dysregulation in incarcerated mothers
• Externalizing problems of children with incarcerated parents
• Imprisoned parents and child face-to-face visitation
• Imprisonment and parent-child barrier visitation
• Incarcerated fathers and child visitation
• Incarcerated parents and child visitation
• Internalizing problems of children with incarcerated parents
• Jailed fathers and children’s behavior problems
• Jailed mothers and children’s behavior problems
• Jailed parents and children’s trauma
• Jailed parents observation
• Mail exchanges between incarcerated parents and children
• Maternal and child adjustment during imprisonment
• Maternal and child adjustment following imprisonment
• Maternal cortisol levels during prison visits with children
• Mental health interventions for incarcerated parents
• Mental health issues in incarcerated mothers

• Human Development & Family Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA

  Julie Poehlmann-Tynan

Julie Poehlmann-Tynan, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Human Development and Family Studies department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; director of the Center for Child and Family Well-Being at the University of Wisconsin; an investigator at the Waisman Center, an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty; and a licensed psychologist. Through numerous publications and outreach efforts, she has brought the attention of the child development and family studies communities to the issue of parental incarceration. Her research with children of incarcerated parents has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Poehlmann-Tynan has served as an advisor to Sesame Street to help develop and evaluate their Emmy-nominated initiative for young children with incarcerated parents and their families called Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration.

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