Parental rights of incarcerated mothers with children in foster care: A policy vacuum

Feminist Studies

Volumn 30, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 339-352

  Halperin, Ronnie ^a,b,c   Harris, Jennifer L ^d,e  

^a STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

^b CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

^c ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d YALE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^e UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 7744224762     PISSN: 00463663     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/20458967     Document Type: Review

References (34)

1. Although the issues discussed in this article are also relevant for incarcerated fathers who had sole custody of their children before their confinement, we have focused our discussion on mothers because the incarceration of a father is less frequently the basis for placing a child in foster care. In 1997, 90 percent of the children of male inmates in state prisons were living with their other parent, compared with only 28 percent of the children of female inmates. It is important to note, however, that men's prisons generally offer far fewer parenting programs and child-friendly visitation conditions than do women's prisons.
2. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Incarcerated Parents and Their Children (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, 2000), www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/iptc.pdf.
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Adoption 2002: The President's Initiative on Adoption and Foster Care: Guidelines for Public Policy and State Legislation Governing Permanence for Children, chap. 1, "Introduction," www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/ publications/adopt02/index.htm.
4. I b i d.
5. Elizabeth I. Johnson and Jane Waldfogel, "Parental Incarceration: Recent Trends and Implications for Child Welfare," Social Service Review 76 (September 2002): 460-79.
6. Adoption 2002, chap. 4, "Court Processes."
7. Adela Beckerman, "Mothers in Prison: Meeting the Prerequisite Conditions for Permanency Planning," Social Work 39 (March 1994): 9-14.
8. I b i d.
9. Sonya J. Leathers, "Parental Visiting and Family Reunification: Could Inclusive Practice Make a Difference?" Child Welfare 81, no. 4 (2002): 595-616; Jordan Bistrian and Katherine May, "Incarcerated Mothers and the Foster Care System in Massachusetts: A Literature Review," Family Corrections Network (1997), www.fcentwork.org/reading/bistrian.html. In a study of those children in the Massachusetts foster care system whose mothers were incarcerated, Bistrian and May concluded that when these mothers have regular contact with their children and their children's caseworkers, they have even greater post-release success with regard to both recidivism and family reunification than those incarcerated mothers whose children are not in foster care.
10. Sonya J. Leathers, "Parental Visiting and Family Reunification: Could Inclusive Practice Make a Difference?" Child Welfare 81, no. 4 (2002): 595-616; Jordan Bistrian and Katherine May, "Incarcerated Mothers and the Foster Care System in Massachusetts: A Literature Review," Family Corrections Network (1997), www.fcentwork.org/reading/bistrian.html. In a study of those children in the Massachusetts foster care system whose mothers were incarcerated, Bistrian and May concluded that when these mothers have regular contact with their children and their children's caseworkers, they have even greater post-release success with regard to both recidivism and family reunification than those incarcerated mothers whose children are not in foster care.
11. Barbara Bloom and David Steinhart, Why Punish the Children? A Reappraisal of the Children of Incarcerated Mothers in America (San Francisco: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 1993); Incarcerated Parents and Their Children.
12. Barbara Bloom and David Steinhart, Why Punish the Children? A Reappraisal of the Children of Incarcerated Mothers in America (San Francisco: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 1993); Incarcerated Parents and Their Children.
13. Cynthia Seymour, "Children with Parents in Prison: Child Welfare Policy, Program, and Practice Issues," Child Welfare 77 (September 1998): 469-93.
14. Administration for Children's Services Memorandum, "Clarification of Child Visits with Incarcerated Birth Parents," 11 Nov. 1999.
15. Zelma W. Henriques, Imprisoned Mothers and Their Children: A Descriptive and Analytical Study (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982).
16. Incarcerated Parents and Their Children.
17. U.S. Department of Justice, Services for Families of Prison Inmates (Longmont, Colo.: National Institute of Corrections Information Center, 2002); U.S. General Accounting Office, Women in Prison: Issues and Challenges Confronting U.S. Correctional Systems (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1999); Mary J. Clement, "Parenting in Prison: A National Survey of Programs for Incarcerated Women," Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 19, nos. 1-2 (1993):89-100.
18. U.S. Department of Justice, Services for Families of Prison Inmates (Longmont, Colo.: National Institute of Corrections Information Center, 2002); U.S. General Accounting Office, Women in Prison: Issues and Challenges Confronting U.S. Correctional Systems (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1999); Mary J. Clement, "Parenting in Prison: A National Survey of Programs for Incarcerated Women," Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 19, nos. 1-2 (1993):89-100.
19. U.S. Department of Justice, Services for Families of Prison Inmates (Longmont, Colo.: National Institute of Corrections Information Center, 2002); U.S. General Accounting Office, Women in Prison: Issues and Challenges Confronting U.S. Correctional Systems (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1999); Mary J. Clement, "Parenting in Prison: A National Survey of Programs for Incarcerated Women," Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 19, nos. 1-2 (1993):89-100.
20. Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), State Agency Survey on Children with Incarcerated Parents (Washington, D.C.: CWLA, 1998), 1-7.
21. Incarcerated Parents and Their Children.
22. Adela Beckerman, "Charting a Course: Meeting the Challenge of Permanency Planning for Children with Incarcerated Mothers," Child Welfare 77 (September 1998): 513-29.
23. Administration for Children's Services Memorandum, "ACS Permanency Review Guidelines," 12 Mar. 1999 (New York: ACS, 1999).
24. "State Agency Survey on Children."
25. Adoption 2002, chap. 1, "Introduction"; chap. 3, "Reasonable Efforts to Preserve Families and Achieve Permanency for Children"; chap. 4, "Court Processes"; and chap. 6, "Termination of Parental Rights."
26. Adoption 2002, chap. 1, "Introduction"; chap. 3, "Reasonable Efforts to Preserve Families and Achieve Permanency for Children"; chap. 4, "Court Processes"; and chap. 6, "Termination of Parental Rights."
27. Adoption 2002, chap. 1, "Introduction"; chap. 3, "Reasonable Efforts to Preserve Families and Achieve Permanency for Children"; chap. 4, "Court Processes"; and chap. 6, "Termination of Parental Rights."
28. Adoption 2002, chap. 1, "Introduction"; chap. 3, "Reasonable Efforts to Preserve Families and Achieve Permanency for Children"; chap. 4, "Court Processes"; and chap. 6, "Termination of Parental Rights."
29. Beckerman, "Mothers in Prison."
30. "State Agency Survey on Children."
31. I b i d.
32. For 63 percent of the cases, there was no permanency plan at the time of termination proceedings. Esther Wattenberg, Meghan Kelley, and Hyungmo Kim, "When the Rehabilitation Ideal Fails: A Study of Parental Rights Termination," Child Welfare 80 (July/August 2001): 405-33.
33. "Women in Prison."
34. See Beckerman, "Charting a Course," for a more detailed proposal.