Second Chances: Protective Factors Within the Child-Caregiver Relationship for Families with Incarcerated Parents

Abstract

In the U.S., about 7% of children have a parent who was incarcerated, which indicates that more than five million children have experienced a parental incarceration. This figure does not include non-custodial parents and caregivers. Research shows that children who experience parental incarceration may be exposed to enduring trauma relating to attachment insecurity with primary caregivers, financial and housing instability, mental and behavioral disorders (Luk et al., 2023; Turney & Goodsell, 2018; Wildeman et al., 2018). Such experiences may threaten children’s development and make them more likely than children with non-offending parents to become future offenders (Craig & Farrington, 2021). However, protective processes such as the bonds that form within the child-caregiver emotional relationship may provide more knowledge about the formation of children’s resilience and assist in managing the emotional challenges of a parental incarceration. To date, no studies have explored the process and development of protective processes within the child- caregiver relationship for children with incarcerated parents. In this study, I sought the experiences of child-caregiver dyads to understand the protective processes that exist within their emotional relationship. This study employed grounded theory to inductively explore the protective processes within the child-caregiver emotional relationship. Through semi-structured interviews with four elementary school-aged child-caregiver dyads, data were analyzed using constant comparison to identify emerging categories and concepts. I found that children with incarcerated parents expressed sadness, confusion, and anger about their parents’ absence. Most child-participants expressed feelings of sadness and anger which translated into social and emotional challenges when interacting with others (i.e.,shyness, trust). Despite these challenges, caregivers were able to support children by being emotionally and physically present and providing them with activities and outlets (e.g., sports) that buffered the emotional effects of parental incarceration. Both children and caregivers built resiliency through the emotional closeness within their relationships, religion, community support, and communication with the incarcerated parent. The results yielded a model named the Reciprocal Resilience Model, which shows that emotional resilience was collaboratively built through the emotional closeness of the child-caregiver bond, spiritual faith, strong community support, and maintenance of communication with the incarcerated parent. The research identifies the emotional challenges of children with an incarcerated parent experience and describes for the first time the supports caregivers provide for children. The results suggest ways in which the caregiver bonds may generate the development of children’s emotional resilience through the child-caregiver relationship. This research illuminates the vital role of the child-caregiver relationship in fostering emotional resilience, offering insights into developing strength-based interventions and policies.