Invisible Mothers

Invisible Mothers: An Exploratory Study of the Contact, Caretaking, and Custody Arrangements Negotiated by Women with Severe Psychiatric Disorders in the New York City Shelter System.

PROJECT GOALS

The aim of this study is to describe contact, custody and care arrangements that define parenting roles among homeless women with SMI who reside apart from their children in NYC shelters. The intent is to illuminate how these women conceive of and manage the demands of parenting.

This two-part project entails (a) analysis of existing self-report data from 80 homeless mothers with SMI living in shelters for unaccompanied adults in order to describe child care-giving arrangements and mother-child contact; and to identify predictors of mothers’ ongoing involvement with their children; and (b) an in-depth qualitative study of 20 mothers to examine the circumstances that led to separations from their children, the children’s current residence, caregivers and custody status, and the perspectives, parenting activities, and goals of mothers, caregivers, and service agencies involved.

Data on 80 mothers with SMI who had minor children were abstracted from a larger data set of women with SMI in NYC Shelters for Single Adults. Descriptive analyses examined the extent of ongoing mother-child contact and how the children were cared for during their separation from their mothers. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the effects of mothers’ personal vulnerabilities and the availability of social, financial and treatment resources on mother-child contact during separation. The analyses showed that despite months and years of separation, many mothers desired services to address contact and custody issues, hoped to reunite with children upon leaving the shelter, and maintained contact with at least one child. Mothers who had been in drug treatment, those receiving financial entitlements, and those whose own relatives were caring for their children were more likely than others to be in contact with children.

For the qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 mothers, 9 caregivers of their children, and 17 service providers from homeless services, mental health and child welfare agencies. All interview transcripts have been entered into an N4 database. Indexing and coding for qualitative analysis is ongoing. Preliminary analyses have focused on system barriers to parenting for homeless mothers with SMI. The data show that mothers receive little formal support for efforts to remain involved with their children and many of the barriers to contact are imposed by conflicting demands of the multiple service system with which mothers are involved (in the homeless service system, knowledge about housing that will accommodate visits or co-residence with children is concentrated in the family shelter system, while unaccompanied mothers are referred to SROs and residential treatment settings; mental health workers discourage involvement with children as a distraction from focusing on treatment issues; substance abuse treatment policies often restrict outside contact with children and caregivers; child welfare systems develop service plans that conflict with treatment program requirements and timetables).

Study findings were presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, and a paper has been prepared for submission to a journal. This work has also informed the Motherhood and Mental Illness work group of Center investigators conducting research on issues related to parenting. Under Dr. Judith Samuels’ leadership, the group organized a multidisciplinary conference on “Motherhood and Mental Illness: How Systems Create Barriers to Parenting.” Dr. Barrow has also pursued issues of separation and reunification in homeless families by developing a study of Family Composition as a site-specific component of Dr. Samuels’ Westchester Homeless Families Study.

The study findings thus far indicate the importance of basic resources, as well as treatment and familial supports for parenting and mother-child contact. Both research and advocacy are needed to spur mental health and homeless service systems to address the parenting needs of separated mothers.

Analysis of the qualitative results of this study continues and a paper on systems barriers to parenting is in preparation. Dr. Barrow is also collaborating with Dr. Samuels and Dr. Shinn in their study of the Impact of Family Critical Time Intervention on Homeless Children and Families, in which she will examine the processes and consequences of separation from the perspective of children separated from homeless families.

a. All participants in the “20 mothers” field study were adult women ages 20 – 49

b. All participants included in the previously collected data set were adult women 20 - 50.

	American Indian or Alaskan Native	Asian or Pacific Islander	Black, not of Hispanic Origin	Hispanic	White, not of Hispanic Origin	Other or Unknown Origin	Total
Female	0	1	15	4	0	0	20

	American Indian or Alaskan Native	Asian or Pacific Islander	Black, not of Hispanic Origin	Hispanic	White, not of Hispanic Origin	Other or Unknown Origin	Total
Female	0	1	61	13	1	4	80