The benefits and challenges of visitation practices in correctional settings: Will video visitation assist incarcerated fathers and their children?

McLeod, Branden A.; Bonsu, Janaé E.

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.07.004

Cited by 24 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Separation from parents can be extremely stressful for children, increasing their risk for adjustment difficulties (Kobak et al, 2016). In order to bridge the gap created by separation between children and their loved ones, virtual contact has been utilized in a number of areas of family life including families with incarcerated parents (McLeod & Bonsu, 2018;Phillips, 2012;Skora & Poehlmann-Tynan, 2020), military families (Mathew-Juarez et al, 2013;Mogil et al, 2015), families with divorced parents (LaMarca, 2012;Saini & Polak, 2018;Saini et al, 2013), extended family members (e.g., grandparents) (McClure et al, 2018) and child welfare families (Iyer et al, 2020;Neil et al, 2020;Quinn et al, 2015). Research in these areas has found that children can benefit significantly in terms of knowledge development, emotional well-being and relationship maintenance from virtual communication with parents and others from whom they are separated.…”

Section: Virtual Parent-child Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual parent-child visitation in support of family reunification in the time of COVID-19

Singer

Brodzinsky

2020

Developmental Child Welfare

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When children are removed from their birth parents and placed in foster care, child welfare policy and practice prioritizes family reunification in permanency planning. Of the many services offered to families in support of reunification, parent-child visitation is one of the most important. The purposes of visitation are to maintain and support the parent-child relationship, facilitate improved parenting skills, and offer social workers opportunities to gauge the family’s progress in meeting reunification goals. Whether supervised or unsupervised, parent-child visitations most often involve face-to-face contact between family members. During periods of sheltering in place in response to COVID-19, however, face-to-face visits have been largely curtailed. In their place, child welfare agencies have begun using virtual visitation through various technology platforms such as smartphones, FaceTime, Zoom, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype, often facilitated by foster parents. A number of questions have arisen, however, about the effectiveness of virtual visitations and how best to use them as a means of supporting reunification goals. In the present article, we examine existing data on how children respond to virtual communication with parents and extended family and what practical issues and training needs are encountered when implementing virtual visits in juvenile dependency cases.

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Section: Virtual Parent-child Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual parent-child visitation in support of family reunification in the time of COVID-19

Singer

Brodzinsky

2020

Developmental Child Welfare

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“…Visitation is a core pillar of prisoners' rights because of the varied and well-documented benefits associated with regular contact with family and friends. These benefits include promoting positive mental health, maintaining family connections, and reduced recidivism (Duwe & Clark, 2011;McLeod & Bonsu, 2018). The benefits extend beyond prisoners.…”

Section: Visitation and Contactmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and Corrections in Australia: A Summary Review of the Available Data and Literature

Payne¹,

Hanley²

2020

Victims & Offenders

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In March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic and at the time of writing, there were more than 13 million known cases and more than 500,000 deaths. Not since the Spanish Flu of 1918 has the world needed to respond to the potential threat of a communicable disease with such a high rate of infection and fatality. Using publicly available data, media sources, and literature, this paper maps Australian corrective services' responses to COVID-19. We find evidence of a concerted effort to reduce prison population numbers, as well as to recalibrate corrections practice in an effort to meet new social-distancing rules and regulations. Our analysis is motivated by the knowledge that prior to COVID-19, Australia had a rising prison population, a disproportionate growth in female and remand populations, and significant Indigenous overrepresentation. In this paper, we explore whether the immediate benefits of COVID-19 have helped or hindered efforts to address these wider concerns.

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“…The average length of stay (LOS) in larger and smaller jails, 34 days and 15 days, respectively (Zeng, 2019), suggests variation that offers opportunities for engagement in family-focused services. Family-focused programs can play a central role in jailed parent-child communication (McLeod & Bonsu, 2018), particularly in larger, urban jails where LOS may be longer. Even in smaller jails, tailored interventions offering brief parent-child-caregiver services can offer benefits to the whole family, especially when continued in the community.…”

Section: Family-focused Services In Correctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons From the Field: Developing and Implementing an Intervention for Jailed Parents and Their Children

et al. 2020

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ObjectiveIn this Lesson from the Field, we describe an intervention designed by our transdisciplinary team focusing on opportunities for enhanced parent–child visits when a parent is incarcerated in jail. We present implementation challenges and lessons learned from our pilot feasibility study.BackgroundSeparation from one's parent because of incarceration has become an increasingly common experience for U.S. children, with one in 14 children experiencing a coresident parent leaving for prison or jail. Parental incarceration is associated with elevated risk for less optimal child development outcomes, yet few evidence‐based interventions are available to mitigate this risk.ExperienceOur field experience underscores knowledge about intervention development and lessons learned in four areas: (a) use of visit coaching with jailed parents and caregivers, (b) application of video chat technology, (c) serving families holistically, and (d) developing family‐focused services in jails.Conclusion and ImplicationsOur study highlights the value of integrating multiple perspectives, ensuring flexibility with families, combining technology with enhanced support strategies, and collaborating with community organizations and government agencies. The intervention can be implemented without extensive training and can be useful across different family professionals working with families involved in the criminal justice system.

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The benefits and challenges of visitation practices in correctional settings: Will video visitation assist incarcerated fathers and their children?

Cited by 24 publications

References 55 publications

Virtual parent-child visitation in support of family reunification in the time of COVID-19

Virtual parent-child visitation in support of family reunification in the time of COVID-19

COVID-19 and Corrections in Australia: A Summary Review of the Available Data and Literature

Lessons From the Field: Developing and Implementing an Intervention for Jailed Parents and Their Children

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