Research Study—Impact of Incarceration on Infants

A first of its kind study, Birth Beyond Bars’ groundbreaking research on the impacts of incarceration on infants was recently published in a peer-reviewed, academic journal.

Approximately 1,000 births occur from prison annually, and most children—especially amongst minorities—must be cared for by someone other than their mother. Since little is known about caregiving for infants in the context of maternal incarceration, the purpose of this study was to better understand the experiences of caregivers standing in the gap to care for newborns of incarcerated mothers—to ultimately identify challenges and provide policy recommendations.

Motherhood Beyond Bars hopes to create greater understanding to pave the way in developing better tools to meet the needs of the infants, caregivers and incarcerated mothers and ultimately, make systemic change. All families impacted by maternal incarceration deserve to benefit from the insights this study reveals.