Doing time together: An exploratory study of incarcerated fathers and their kids

The purpose of this study was to examine whether incarceration affects the father-child relationship, and if so, how. This task was accomplished by interviewing imprisoned fathers about their relationships with their children, and interviewing their respective children regarding the relationships they have with their fathers. These relationships were examined via the use of five measurements: how often the fathers wrote their children, how often the children wrote their fathers, how often the fathers called on the telephone, how each father and child characterized their relationships and in those cases in which the child had been in trouble with the law, whether the father knew about it. The key findings of this study are: (a) Children are more likely to say their fathers write to them even in cases where this might not be true. Moreover, only forty percent of the fathers and their children are in agreement as to how frequently they talk on the telephone. (b) Fathers are more apt than children to fabricate a close familial relationship when one does not exist. (c) If the children get in trouble with the police, they do not tell their fathers. (d) The mothers and/or guardians of the children are generally hostile about their circumstances. (e) For the most part, the incarcerated fathers fabricate the truth as it pertains to their relationships with their families. This project has provided the foundation for future research in an area previously void of study.