RESEARCH WEEKLY: Mothers with Severe Mental Illness Involved in the Criminal Justice System Share Experiences with Parenting
By Nina Robertson
Mothers with severe mental illness and involvement in the criminal justice system center their lives and recovery around their identities as mothers. Despite long-term and complex mental health needs, the maternal identities of these women are at the forefront of their experiences, according to a recent study published in Crime & Delinquency, a policy-oriented peer-reviewed journal.
Qualitative interviews with mothers
Researchers from Illinois State University and Arizona State University conducted interviews with 48 women who had given birth to at least one child and identified themselves as mothers. This study aimed to capture the ways that mothers involved in the criminal justice system express their identities as mothers against the normative ideology of what ‘good moms’ do and their goals, while acknowledging constraints of trauma, mental illness and criminal involvement. It is estimated that roughly two-thirds of women in prisons and jails in the U.S. meet the criteria for at least one mental health disorder.
The women included in the study were recruited from the Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI) probation caseload in Maricopa County, Ariz. Inclusion in the SMI caseload required a referral at the time of sentencing or referral by the probationer’s standard officer who suspected the individual would benefit from interaction with the SMI caseload team. Criteria for the SMI caseload required individuals to have a mental illness and display difficulties that impact their lives on a daily basis (unable to adhere to medication or problems within everyday processes). Participants’ diagnoses included bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and 70% of the participants met criteria for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
Emergent themes
The authors identified several major themes that emerged during the interview process. The most common narrative surrounding constraints of mothering centered around women’s consistent struggles with their mental illness. Many women interviewed stated how their mental illness made motherhood an impossible task. More than half of the participants had lost custody of their children or shared custody with other family members due to struggles with their mental illness. Many women commented on how their mental illness exacerbated the separation of their children due to state intervention.
Participants also defined a main goal of motherhood as making the life of their children better in comparison to their own childhood. The aspirations to break the familial cycle of pathology, trauma and disadvantage was commonly cited and mothers involved in the criminal justice system wanted to act as role models for their children.
A surprising theme from the study indicated that women describe their children as “mothering” them, or reversing the role of parent and child. Young adult and teenage children voluntarily took on the roles of ensuring medication adherence and protecting their mothers during mental health crisis. Women noted that their children serve as catalysts of change in their recovery and mental health, nearly 40% of participants conveyed the desire to better mother their children or improve their current capacity to mother in the future.
Implications
The qualitative interviews indicate a substantial need for mothers with mental illness to have more social and community support. As stated in a 2010 Treatment Advocacy Center report, “Although it was never designed to be a mental health care provider, the criminal justice system has overwhelmingly become the de facto mental health institution in the United States.” The study authors call for more interventions that divert individuals with serious mental illness from the criminal justice system.
Stigma can prevent mothers with serious mental illness from seeking treatment for fear of losing their child and fear that their child will suffer repercussions due to their mother’s mental illness. Mothers should feel at ease knowing their mental illness will not impede their health and safety or their children's. The authors argue that more steps should be taken to ensure this is the case in the future through an increase of long-term resources with health promotion efforts.
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