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Social Welfare Law

Deseriee A. Kennedy

Selected Works

Incarceration

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

"The Good Mother": Mothering, Feminism, And Incarceration, Deseriee A. Kennedy Apr 2016

"The Good Mother": Mothering, Feminism, And Incarceration, Deseriee A. Kennedy

Deseriee A. Kennedy

As the rates of incarceration continue to rise, women are increasingly subject to draconian criminal justice and child welfare policies that frequently result in the loss of their parental rights. The intersection of an increasingly carceral state and federally imposed timelines for achieving permanency for children in state care has had a negative effect on women, their children, and their communities. Women, and their ability to parent, are more adversely affected by the intersection of these gender-neutral provisions because they are more likely than men to be the primary caretaker of their children. In addition, incarcerated women have higher rates …


Children, Parents & The State: The Construction Of A New Family Ideology, Deseriee A. Kennedy Nov 2013

Children, Parents & The State: The Construction Of A New Family Ideology, Deseriee A. Kennedy

Deseriee A. Kennedy

More than twenty-five states allow courts to consider parental incarceration or conviction of a crime in determining whether to terminate parental rights. This problem is of increasing significance as a result of dramatic growth in incarceration rates, particularly among women who were often the primary and sole caretaker of their children before their imprisonment. Social scientists have recognized that the reality for parents in many communities is one of widespread and repeated incarceration, which has a devastating effect on families and communities. The problem is magnified by a failed drug policy and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which, in …