Children¿s Contact with Incarcerated Parents

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.

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.

Examines potential outcomes of parent-child contact during incarceration, including effects on child and adult relationships, well-being, and parenting

Chapter 1. Introduction: Is Parent-Child Contact During ParentalIncarceration Beneficial?.- Chapter 2. Differential Effects of Type of Children's Contact with their Jailed Mothers and Children's Behavior Problems.- Chapter 3. Young Children's Behavioral and Emotional Reactions to Plexiglas and Video Visits with Jailed Parents.- Chapter 4. Associations among Mother-Child Contact, Parenting Stress, Hair Cortisol and Mother and Child Adjustment Related to Incarceration.- Chapter 5. Children's Contact with Incarcerated Parents: Summary and Recommendations.- Chapter 6. Commentary.