RESEARCH ARTICLE
Caregivers of Children with Incarcerated Parents
Ande Nesmith*, 1, Ebony Ruhland2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 4
First Page: 105
Last Page: 116
Publisher Id: TOFAMSJ-4-105
DOI: 10.2174/1874922401104010105
Article History:
Received Date: 3/2/2011Revision Received Date: 1/3/2011
Acceptance Date: 15/5/2011
Electronic publication date: 30/12/2011
Collection year: 2011
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
With rising attention toward the plight of children with incarcerated parents, there has, as yet, been little focus placed on the adults who care for them, individuals who may have a profound impact on the children's relationships with their incarcerated parent. This study explores unique parenting challenges the caregivers faced, from their perspectives and presents their voices. Caregivers discussed the strain of serving as a gatekeeper between the child and imprisoned parent, coping with stigma and isolation, and negotiating a predominantly child-unfriendly visitation system. The findings suggest that caregivers need information about raising a child in this context, connections with others in similar situations, and a more child-friendly and transparent judicial and visitation process.
