The Well-being of Children of incarcerated Mothers Preliminary Results of a Dutch cohort

1. The Well-being of Children of incarcerated Mothers Preliminary Results of a Dutch cohort Menno Ezinga Sanne Hissel Anne-Marie Slotboom Catrien Bijleveld

2. Introduction • Growing number of incarcerated women (400  800) • Little knowledge of their family: • Do they have children? • No check of civil registrations. • However, knowledge is important for possible necessary interventions by the government before, during, and after mother’s detention.

3. Previous research • Netherlands: almost no empirical research on the well-being of children of incarcerated mothers. Some research on the contact facilities between mothers and their children. • Anglo Saxon: growing number of attention • Review Murray and Farrington (2008): • Incarcerated mothers possibly more damaging for the well-being of the child than incarcerated fathers.

4. PROBLEM • Children separated from their mothers • Risk factor for problem behavior and decreased well-being (Murray & Farrington, 2008). • Separation between child and parent by incarceration could act as supplementary risk factor for problem behavior and decreased well-being. • Maternal deprivation creates most likely an even more vulnerable situation, as mother often is primary caregiver.

5. PROBLEM (2) • Signals for sharp decrease in Quality of Life and well-being (psychological and physical) • Economical deprivation • Delayed/stagnated psychological development • Attachment problems (Poehlmann, 2005) • Social problems (stigmatization, bullying, deviant peers, taboo).

6. Purpose • Study on well-being of children of incarcerated mothers in the Netherlands • Well-being is studied in general • How is caregiving organized now mother is in detention? • What is well-being of the children? • Is there any sign of internalizing or externalizing problem behavior? • More specifically: do the children experience anxiety problems, mood disorders or aggression problems?

7. Sample • Children • 0-18 • Incarcerated mothers • Caregivers (fathers, family, foster home) • Teachers

8. Instruments (1) Interview & Observations • Semi-structured Interview with mother and caregiver. • Semi-structured interview with the child (when possible). • Observation of the child and its environment.

9. Instruments (2) • Child Behaviour Checklists: CBCL • Youth Self Report: YSR problem behavior • Teachers Reports Form: TRF • Personality-/behavioral questionnaires on traits, aggression, depression and anxiety.

10. Preliminary Results Quantitative

11. Preliminary results quantitative • Norms of the behavioral checklists: 7% borderline score of being problematic. • Mothers and care givers score overall > 7%. • Example: Almost 40% of the mothers score their child(ren) as borderline or clinical problematic on the anxiety and depression scale. • Also: care-givers rate the children as showing more behavioral problems than the mothers rate.

12. Self-report & Short summary • Self-report: children report less problems than the grown ups. Still problems are reported on levels of • Anxiety • Aggression • No reports of mood problems/depression • So… • More problems than the norm population would score • With the exception of affective problems and emotional problem mothers are low on reporting problem behavior of their children • Care-givers score higher on (externalizing) problem behavior than mothers do. • The children report anxiety problems and aggressive behavior

13. Preliminary Results Qualitative • Mothers • The prison climate and regime are not contributing to maintaining contact with the children • Concerns about the pedagogical climate of the child now mother is incarcerated

14. Preliminary Results Qualitative • Children • They realize the seriousness of the situation (by observing mother in jail). • Missing their mother  Finally a break for the constant tension at home • Visits have enormous impact  logistically and during visit

15. Discussion • Mothers are sometimes unrealistic about future care giving when they are released, and about the upbringing of their child = Incongruent with children’s vision • Children are often far from positive about the possible return of their mother. The same opinion is found at the care givers. • Care-givers worry about upcoming return of mother “Foster care or remaining parent?”

16. Discussion • Externalizing problem behavior: often seen by care-giver, not as much by mother • Not visible, while not in daily routine • “Keeping up appearances”. Afraid of Youth Care • Internalizing problem behavior reported by mother in affection and emotions • Visits create tension en forced feeling of happiness. Children are experiencing complex feeling and emotions  causes behaviors (tantrums or sadness) that reflects on mother

17. End • Future • Start of PhD project on female detention and parenting (S. Hissel) • Fine tune analysis of the complete dataset • Expansion of the project by searching for similar European projects Feel free to comment me or ask any questions in this matter! m.ezinga@rechten.vu.nl www.rechten.vu.nl/nsmv