Abstract
Each year in the United States, over 1000 women give birth while in prison. Little is known about who cares for the infants after they are separated from their biological mothers. Additionally, little is known about the household characteristics of the caregivers, or the transitions infants may experience in their first year of life. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed administrative records of all the births (N = 114) to women incarcerated at one large Midwestern women’s prison between May 2013 and December 2018. We then conducted telephone interviews with caregivers (n = 30) who had provided care for 38 infants to better understand the context of caregiving for infants born to mothers in prison. We found that infants were most often discharged from the hospital to a grandparent. Caregivers reported a variety of challenges while caring for the infants, including maintaining employment, increased stressors, and the difficulty of transitioning the infant to another caregiver. By the age of one year, just under half of the infants remained under the primary care of the person who brought the infant home from the hospital; about one-quarter had transitioned to their biological mother’s care following their mothers’ release from prison. Results have implications for policies and programs aimed at supporting infants, caregivers, and mothers in prison.
Highlights
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Very little information is systematically collected by the prison system regarding who cares for infants born to women in prison.
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Grandparents were the most common primary caregivers for infants born to women in prison.
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By the age of one, just under half of the infants remained under the primary care of the person who brought the infant home from the hospital; about one-quarter had transitioned to their biological mother’s care.
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More research is needed on the caregiving arrangements and outcomes for infants born to mothers in prison.
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Funding
This research was supported by a grant awarded to Dr. Shlafer from the University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, Faculty Interactive Research Program. This research was also supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, grant UL1TR002494. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
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V.P. led creation of all study data collection tools, completed IRB requirements, conducted all participant recruitment and interviews, conducted and supervised all qualitative and quantitative analyses, and was the primary contributor to writing the paper. E.S. aided with participant recruitment, data transcription and entry, conducted the qualitative data analysis, and contributed to the writing of the paper. L.D. aided with creation of study design and data collection tools, helped guide data collection, and reviewed paper drafts. R.S. served as the senior author on the paper. R.S. designed the study and was awarded funding. She was responsible for all ethical oversight and monitored all data collection and management. She contributed to every draft of the paper and guided statistical analyses.
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Pendleton, V.E., Schmitgen, E.M., Davis, L. et al. Caregiving Arrangements and Caregiver Well-being when Infants are Born to Mothers in Prison. J Child Fam Stud 31, 1894–1907 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02089-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02089-w