Limitations of Administrative Data in Assessing Long-term Outcomes of a Model Program for Pregnant Incarcerated Women

Over 10 million children in the U.S. have an incarcerated parent. Consequences related to incarceration may be more acutely experienced by children with an incarcerated mother since women are often sole care givers prior to confinement. Moreover, approximately 25% of women are either pregnant or postpartum when they enter prison. Reunification post incarceration, as well as maternal/child attachment, are often facilitated by ongoing contact. Although many visitation and prison nursery programs exist throughout the country there are few studies of long term outcomes. This longitudinal study assesses one such program for pregnant women, following the intervention and matched comparison groups through several statewide administrative databases for 10 years. Preliminary results illuminate the presence of informal care giving networks outside the scope of our data but few differences between groups. Although nearly 70% of the children remain legally attached to their mothers, further study is required to account for data limitations.