Maternal Imprisonment and the Timing of Children’s Foster Care Involvement

Abstract

Maternal imprisonment and foster care placement represent two system-enforced forms of mother-child separation. To inform policies and practices that may prevent such separations, this study examined the timing of mother’s incarceration in relation to her children’s involvement with social services, contributory factors leading to foster care placement, and foster care discharge outcomes. North Carolina administrative records from the Department of Corrections, Vital Statistics, and the Division of Social Services were used. Participants included women who entered state prison between 2006 and 2009, who had at least one child aged 0–14 years, and who had at least one child enter foster care in the 3 years before or after prison entry (N = 893 women). Outcomes were examined annually during the 3 years prior to and following maternal prison entry and included whether or not the mother had at least one child who (a) had a child protective services assessment/investigation, (b) entered foster care, (c) had parental rights terminated, and (d) exited foster care. Rates of child welfare engagement in the years prior to maternal prison entry were high, and substance-related issues were documented in over half the sample. A quarter of women had parental rights terminated, and one in six had a child adopted. This study extends prior work on the timing of maternal prison entry and her children’s social services involvement by focusing on a state prison population and investigating the contributory factors associated with foster care placement. These findings suggest opportunities that may reduce maternal-child separation by preventing future criminal justice involvement and foster care placements. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)