An Exploratory Study of the Contact, Caretaking, and Custody Arrangements Negotiated by Women with Severe Psychiatric Disorders in the New York City Shelter System.
Updated July 2002

Principal Investigator: Susan Barrow, Ph.D. (NYS Psychiatric Institute)

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. 

Rationale: This project explores the circumstances of motherhood among homeless women with severe mental illness residing apart from their children in NYC shelters for single adults  and seeks to illuminate how these women manage the demands of parenting.  A majority of the women in New York City’s shelters for single adults, including the estimated 46% diagnosed with severe mental illness, are mothers of minor children not currently in their care. This study uses existing and newly collected data to describe contact, custody and care arrangements that define parenting roles among these women and to examine in greater depth the circumstances that led to mothers’ separation from their children, the children's current living arrangements (residence, caretakers, and custody status), and the perspectives, parenting activities, and goals of mothers, caregivers, and service agencies involved.

          
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS:  

Method: Project activities have focused on (1) reviewing and synthesizing relevant literature; (2) abstracting and analyzing previously unexamined data on contact, custody and care arrangements that defined parenting relationships between a sample of homeless mentally ill women in NYC “singles” shelters and their children; and (3) conducting interviews with currently homeless women, caretakers for their children, and service providers who have worked with them on parenting issues.

                                Literature Review.  An initial literature review revealed virtually no research on parenting issues for this population but identified several related bodies of relevant literature – including descriptive studies of services for mentally ill mothers, studies of homeless families, research on foster care, anthropological work on variations in how motherhood is constructed, and psychological research and clinical writings on parenting, separation, and coping with losses.  Review and synthesis of this literature are in process. 

                                Analysis of Existing Data   Data on parental status and childcare arrangements originally collected as part of an evaluation of case management services for mentally ill women throughout the city shelter system have been abstracted from baseline and follow-up interviews conducted between 1990 and 1994 with 303 women residing in city “singles” shelters who were assessed as candidates for mental health services. Of 185 women diagnosed by psychiatrists as having a severe Axis I mental illness, 93 also reported having minor children, and these women form the current sample. Several analyses are in process:  descriptive analyses of data on minor children (age, ever resided with mother, current residence, current caretaking arrangements, time since last contact, number of contacts in past month) will provide a basis for delineating the parenting arrangements and practices of the 93 women in the study sample. Frequencies, cross tabulations, and other descriptive statistics will be employed to characterize parenting arrangements and their relationship to the mothers' characteristics and experiences (including demographics, homelessness history, health and mental health status, and prior service utilization).  Analysis of follow-up data collected one and two years after baseline will describe the frequency of major status changes over the follow-up period (e.g., new births, termination of parental rights, adoptions, regaining custody), changes in caregiving arrangements (e.g., from relative to non-family foster care, reunification), and changes in mothers' contact and parenting activities. Analyses will also examine relationships between these changes and the mothers’ living situations and use of services. 

                                Field Study.  Data collection is currently underway in a small field study designed to elicit multiple perspectives on separation, childcare, and parenting goals. We are conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 mentally ill mothers currently residing in two NYC shelter programs for women with mental health and/or substance abuse problems and with up to three other adults in their networks who have been involved in deciding or implementing current child care/child custody arrangements (for example, relatives; the child(ren)'s current caretakers; case managers and mental health staff).  Interviews with mothers focus on current residence, care arrangements, and contact for each child, as well as open-ended questions about parenting history, practices and goals.

Results: The PI has carried out the following tasks:

• 1) supervised the abstraction and editing of data on parenting from a data set on homeless mothers with mental illness; designed statistical analysis describing contact with children and care-giving arrangements; wrote up the results of these analyses; 

• 2) prepared and submitted IRB applications to NKI, Psychiatric Institute, and Project Renewal for conducting a field study of separated mothers in NYC single women’s shelters, and obtained a Certificate of Confidentiality and IRB approvals for conducting the study; 

• 3) developed interview guides for ethnographic interviewing of mothers, caregivers of their children, and service providers; 

• 4) contacted shelter programs and negotiated access to shelter residents to conduct field study of mothers; 

• 5) met with shelter administrators and with groups of shelter residents to present purpose and description of study and troubleshoot recruitment procedures; 

• 6) reviewed literature in mental health and social science disciplines on motherhood, foster care, child welfare, parenting; 

• 7)  supervised research assistants conducting field interviews with mothers and collaterals; 

• 8) created qualitative database in QSR N4 software for analysis of interview data; 

• 9) conducted preliminary analysis of interview data.

      Project research assistants have 

• 1) conducted interviews with mothers, childrens’ caregivers, and service providers at shelter and community sites; 

• 2) documented interview content and context in detailed field notes; 

• 3) managed administrative paperwork tracking status of interviews, participant payment, completion of field notes; 

• 4) reviewed literature in mental health and social science disciplines on motherhood, foster care, child welfare, parenting; 

• 5) maintained newspaper files documenting relevant city, state and federal policy developments impinging on homeless mothers; 

• 6) worked with PI to develop provisional coding schema for qualitative interview data and to set up QSR N4 (NUD*IST) database. 

All data collection for the field study was completed as of December, 2001, and field notes have been formatted and entered into the QSR N4 database.  Data are being indexed and coded for qualitative analysis.  

Inclusion of Gender and Minority Groups 

PSMD Women in NYC Shelters:

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

SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS/ POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The study seeks to examine in depth the circumstances that led to mothers’ separations from their children, the children's current living arrangements (residence, caretakers, and custody status), and the perspectives, parenting activities, and goals of mothers, caregivers, and service agencies involved.  

The development of separate service systems for homeless families and "single" homeless adults in New York has obscured the importance of parental status and related service issues for women residing in the singles shelters. Despite the fact that most of the women in these shelters are mothers of children not currently in their care, their parental status is rarely either acknowledged or addressed by those who administer homeless programs or mental health services.  The present study fulfills a necessary precondition for addressing more complex policy questions about how to reconcile diverging needs of the mothers, children, other relatives, and current caretakers; how to evaluate the contrasting perspectives, policies and practices of social service, mental health and child welfare bureaucracies; and how these service systems mediate the impact of poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and psychiatric disabilities on parenting, custody, and child welfare.

PLANS

Analysis of previously collected data is completed, and an article on the findings is in preparation. Qualitative analysis of interview data will continue. Additionally, participation will continue in the “Motherhood Group” of Center investigators doing research on parenting to develop research/provider conference on issues of motherhood.

Entered: July 18, 2000

Updated: July 9, 2001 
Updated: June 24, 2002

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