Health Economcis and Social Policy Group, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
Child Abuse Negl. 2023 May;139:106126. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106126. Epub 2023 Mar 6.
Women prisoners are a growing portion of the prison population. Health and social outcomes of their children have been studied and found to be poor, but little is known about child protection outcomes.
Ascertain child protection system contact of children exposed to maternal incarceration.
All children born between 1985 and 2011 exposed to the incarceration of their mothers in a Western Australian correctional facility and a matched comparison group.
A matched cohort study using linked administrative data on 2637 mothers entering prison between 1985 and 2015 and their 6680 children. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of child protection service (CPS) contact post maternal incarceration (four concern levels), comparing rates for children exposed to maternal incarceration with a matched non-exposed group, adjusting for maternal and child factors.
Exposure to maternal incarceration increased risk of CPS contact. Unadjusted HRs exposed vs unexposed children were 7.06 (95%CI = 6.49-7.69) for substantiated child maltreatment and 12.89 (95%CI = 11.42-14.55) for out-of-home care (OOHC). Unadjusted IRRs were 6.04 (95%CI = 5.57-6.55) for number of substantiations and 12.47 (95%CI = 10.65-14.59) for number of removals to OOHC. HRs and IRRs were only slightly attenuated in adjusted models.
Maternal incarceration is a warning flag for a child at high risk of serious child protection concerns. Family-friendly rehabilitative women's prisons, incorporating support for more nurturing mother-child relationships could provide a placed-based public health opportunity for disrupting distressing life trajectories and intergenerational pathways of disadvantage of these vulnerable children and their mothers. This population should be a priority for trauma-informed family support services.
女性囚犯在囚犯人口中所占比例不断增加。已经研究了她们的孩子的健康和社会结果，发现这些结果很差，但对儿童保护结果知之甚少。
确定接触过母亲监禁的儿童的儿童保护系统。
1985 年至 2011 年间在西澳大利亚惩教设施中入狱的所有母亲所生的儿童及其 6680 名儿童，以及一个匹配的对照组。
使用 1985 年至 2015 年间 2637 名入狱母亲及其 6680 名儿童的行政数据进行匹配队列研究。我们估计了母亲入狱后儿童保护服务（CPS）接触的风险比（HR）和发病率比（IRR）（四个关注级别），比较了暴露于母亲入狱的儿童与未暴露于母亲入狱的儿童的比率，调整了母亲和儿童的因素。
接触母亲监禁会增加 CPS 接触的风险。未调整的 HR 为暴露于与未暴露于儿童的暴露儿童为 7.06（95%CI=6.49-7.69）为证实的儿童虐待和 12.89（95%CI=11.42-14.55）为家庭外照顾（OOHC）。未调整的 IRR 分别为 6.04（95%CI=5.57-6.55）为证实次数和 12.47（95%CI=10.65-14.59）为 OOHC 转移次数。调整后的模型中 HR 和 IRR 仅略有减弱。
母亲监禁是儿童面临严重儿童保护问题高风险的警告信号。以家庭为中心的女性监狱改造，纳入对更具养育性的母子关系的支持，可以为这些弱势儿童及其母亲提供一个基于地点的公共卫生机会，打破这些儿童和母亲令人痛苦的生活轨迹和代际劣势的途径。这一人群应成为以创伤为中心的家庭支持服务的优先事项。
