Formerly Incarcerated Parents and Their Children

Western, Bruce; Smith, Natalie E.

doi:10.1007/s13524-018-0677-4

Cited by 36 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…Future research should continue to peer into the inner workings of families across the class ladder as they absorb and navigate these headwinds, with an eye toward revealing the ongoing work families do (practical, cultural, and emotional) that helps them cope with the changing nature of inequality and risk in our time. Using mixed methods or longitudinal and in‐depth approaches excavates surprising truths, such as that the rich too are worried or that stable housing matters more than income in facilitating contact between recently released prisoners and their children (Cooper, ; Western & Smith, ). In this, then, the field of sociology may be uniquely positioned to make important contributions in part because of the diversity of our methodological toolkits.…”

Section: Conclusion and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Families Across the Income Spectrum: A Decade in Review

Cooper

Pugh

2020

J of Marriage and Family

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During the past decade, scholars continued to focus on how larger economic trends impacted families across the income spectrum. From income and wealth inequality to economic insecurity, the gaps between the haves and the have nots remained, and some widened during this period. The authors' comprehensive review found the following three major takeaways: first, the biggest economic divides run through families with children; second, low‐income families face concentrated disadvantage marked by insecurity and precarity; and third, inequality and insecurity shaped the “dynamism” of family life, including how families respond culturally and emotionally to economic changes, and how these responses unfold over time. They examine active areas of research, including parenting trends and the transition to adulthood. They also document a new scholarly emphasis on uncertainty and instability along with the forces that exacerbate or mitigate them, such as job quality, economic volatility, wealth, and incarceration. Research during the past decade focused on the experience and consequences of dynamism, reflecting not only the reality that families evolve but also that they face continual change in their economic, social, and political contexts. The authors highlight research investigating how families “do dynamism,” work that looks over time or offers in‐depth examinations of how families adapt to and cope with dynamism every day. This research reveals that inequality and insecurity are not only matters of levels and gaps but also ongoing matters of meaning‐making, identity, and feeling. The authors conclude by highlighting some strengths and weaknesses of these research streams and pointing out new avenues for future scholarship.

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Section: Conclusion and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Families Across the Income Spectrum: A Decade in Review

Cooper

Pugh

2020

J of Marriage and Family

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“…For example, immigration policy and enforcement has clear implications for children's living arrangements and associated household resources (Amuedo‐Dorantes & Arenas‐Arroyo, )—with the recent child separation policy under the Trump administration on the U.S. southern border as the most extreme example. Criminal justice policy, including prisoner‐reentry policy, also has a range of consequences for both parents and children, including setting the duration of time and geographic distance over which children are separated from incarcerated parents and the supports available to currently and formerly incarcerated individuals and their families (Turney, ; Western & Smith, ). Yet, neither of these is typically considered family policy.…”

Section: Explicit and Implicit Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Policy and Complex Contemporary Families: A Decade in Review and Implications for the Next Decade of Research and Policy Practice

Berger

Carlson

2020

J of Marriage and Family

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Prior Journal of Marriage and Family decade‐in‐review articles have grappled with the definition and role of family policy for research and policy practice while emphasizing its value to both. In this article, we begin with a broad conceptualization of family policy that encompasses actions intended to achieve explicitly stated goals for families (explicit policies) and those that affect families without an explicitly stated goal for doing so (implicit policies), which we believe provides a solid framework for guiding and understanding both research and practice in the field. Second, we review major U.S. policy initiatives in the past decade and their documented and potential effects on families. Third, we describe several key aspects by which contemporary families have become more diverse and complex. Fourth, we discuss the implications of ongoing family complexity for public policies. We conclude with a discussion about future research and policy development in the context of contemporary family complexity.

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“…Incarceration is pervasive in the United States, afecting millions of families every year and generating enduring collateral consequences. Research emphasizes that this experience makes it more likely that fathers live apart from their children (Geller 2013;Geller, Garfinkel, and Western 2011;Western and Smith 2018;Western, Lopoo, and McLanahan 2004), and our findings make it clear that this experience has serious implications for nonresident fathers' ability to provide for their children. Moreover, both incarceration and its negative consequences for fathers' contributions to their children's household economies are concentrated among black families.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Although many economically disadvantaged fathers, including those with histories of incarceration, are highly involved in their children's lives (Waller 2009), evidence suggests that paternal incarceration diminishes involvement and contact with children even after release (Geller 2013;Swisher and Waller 2008;Turney and Wildeman 2013). Some studies find much of this reduction in contact is driven by decreases in the probability that fathers reside with their children (Geller 2013;Turney and Wildeman 2013), though incarceration also reduces father-child contact among nonresident fathers both during and after incarceration (Geller 2013;Swisher and Waller 2008;Western and Smith 2018).…”

Section: Inca Rcer Ation a Nd Fathers ' Contribu Tions To Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Providing After Prison: Nonresident Fathers’ Formal and Informal Contributions to Children

Emory¹,

Nepomnyaschy²,

Waller³

et al. 2020

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

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a llIson dw y er emory , len na nepomn yasch y , m aur een r. wa ller , da n Iel p. mIller , a nd a lex a ndr a h a r a l a mpoudIs Incarceration among young, minority, economically disadvantaged men is pervasive in the United States and can impair their employment prospects. Because many of these men are fathers, incarceration also has serious implications for their ability to support their children. This article investigates the associations between incarceration and nonresident fathers' cash and in-kind contributions to their children's household economy. It then examines whether policies intended to protect employment opportunities mitigate the potential costs of incarceration for nonresident fathers' economic support of their children. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and new state policy data, we find that paternal incarceration reduces formal and informal support and that some policies offset the incarceration penalty, but clear differences by fathers' race emerge.

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Formerly Incarcerated Parents and Their Children

Cited by 36 publications

References 33 publications

Families Across the Income Spectrum: A Decade in Review

Families Across the Income Spectrum: A Decade in Review

Family Policy and Complex Contemporary Families: A Decade in Review and Implications for the Next Decade of Research and Policy Practice

Providing After Prison: Nonresident Fathers’ Formal and Informal Contributions to Children

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