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Journal Article
An estimated 1.5 million children have a parent held in a state or federal prison in the United States, an increase of more than half a million since 1991. Many of these children have disruptions in familial relationships such as growing up in foster care, with grandparents or other relatives, or moving around among an array of temporary caretakers. Incarcerated parents have few opportunities for parenting from the inside, and they worry about the impact of their separation on their children. Children of African American families are hit particularly hard. Nearly half the parents behind bars…
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Journal Article
The movement towards family focused justice emphasizes families, especially parents, as a critical component of juvenile offender rehabilitation, especially probation. However, there is a dearth of research on how probation officers involve the parents of juvenile offenders. This qualitative investigation attempts to fill that gap by exploring probation officers' practices with parents. Using a grounded theory approach, a conceptual model of the ideal parent of juvenile justice involved youth was developed. Probation officers explained that the ideal parent was able to support their child,…
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Journal Article
Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we explored the development of father identity among boys involved in the juvenile justice system. Youth were recruited from a juvenile detention center and school district in a northern California county with a high teen birth rate. The participants were expecting a child or parenting an infant and had been arrested, incarcerated, or had committed a crime. We collected data through observations and individual interviews. Using constant comparative and dimensional analysis, we found that expectant adolescent fathers hoped for a boy and…
