Age, Gender & Gender Identities

From Prison to Home: The Effect of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities A Womans Journey Home: Challenges for Female Offenders and Their Children By: Stephanie S. Covington, PhD, LCSW Co-director, Center for Gender & Justice December 2001

Over the past 25 years our knowledge and understanding of women's lives have increased dramatically. The new information has impacted and improved services for women in the fields of health, education, employment, mental health, substance abuse, and trauma treatment.

Contents Permanency and Reunification Trends in 25 States Reunification From Foster Care in Nine States 1990-1997: Description and Interpretation The Role of Race in Parental Reunification Casework Decision Making

1. Introduction and BackgroundMothers Making a Change (MMAC) is a public program serving mothers with a substance abuse problem in Cobb and Douglas counties in Georgia. MMAC came to our attention during a discussion with the Foster Care Unit Manager in the Social Services Section of the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) in Atlanta.

For imprisoned mothers, one of the greatest punishments incarceration carries with it is separation from their children. As one mother put it, "I can do time alone OK. But its not knowing what's happening to my son that hurts most". As this quote suggests, when parents are incarcerated, "what's happening" to their children is a great concern. It is a concern for us as well.

Contents Findings in Brief Background Program Approaches and Implementation Features Research Designs and Samples Five-Year Effects on Use of Employment-Related Services and Costs

Reentry may be thought of as a community-level process when it occurs in high concentrations. The concepts of social capital and collective efficacy have been used to explain the production and maintenance of disadvantage and its consequences.

In 1999, HHS contracted with Urban Institute to conduct the Study of Screening and Assessment in TANF/Welfare-to-Work. The second phase of the study involved case studies of a limited number of localities to further explore how these agencies and their partners responded to the issues and challenges identified during phase one.

By virtue of their developmental stage, it is the adolescents of incarcerated parents who have the potential to have the greatest impact on society at large, and in this paper, we focus on the most powerful problem that they can exhibit, antisocial behavior.

Project Director:  Diane Paulsell Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.