Does Subsequent Criminal Justice Involvement Predict Foster Care and Termination of Parental Rights for Children Born to Incarcerated Women?

• Published in: Social work in public health Vol. 27; no. 1-2; pp. 129 - 147
• Main Authors: Kubiak, Sheryl Pimlott, Kasiborski, Natalie, Karim, Nidal, Schmittel, Emily
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2012; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Child; Child welfare; Child Welfare - legislation & jurisprudence; Child Welfare Services; Childrearing practices; children; Civil Rights - legislation & jurisprudence; Confidence Intervals; Convictions; Crime - legislation & jurisprudence; Criminal Justice; Family roles; Female; Female Offenders; Females; Foster Care; Foster children; Foster Home Care - legislation & jurisprudence; Health administration; Humans; Imprisonment; incarceration; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mother-Child Relations; Mothers; Odds Ratio; paerntal rights; Parental rights; Parents; Parents & parenting; Participation; Pregnancy; Prisoners; Prisoners - psychology; Rights; Risk; United States; Women; Young Adult; United States
• ISSN: 1937-1918; 1937-190X
• DOI: 10.1080/19371918.2012.629888

This longitudinal study of 83 incarcerated women, who gave birth during incarceration and retained their parental rights through brief sentences, examines the intersection between subsequent criminal justice involvement postrelease and child welfare outcomes. Ten years of multiple state-level administrative data sets are used to determine if arrest or conviction predict foster care and/or termination of parental rights. Findings indicate that only felony arrest is a significant predictor of foster care involvement. Additionally, 69% of mothers retained legal custody, despite subsequent criminal involvement for many, suggesting supportive parenting programs and resources need to be available to these women throughout and after incarceration.