“Mommy, I Want to Talk to My Dad”: Exploring Parental Incarceration, Bibliotherapy, and Storybooks

Abstract

Parental incarceration often involves caregivers explaining the absence of a significant attachment to a child. Developmental scholars suggest that bibliotherapy and storybooks can provide both illustrative and explanatory frameworks for caregivers to discuss difficult topics with children. Storybooks paired with caregiver wisdom might help children to understand and adjust to the loss of a parent. However, scientific-based derivatives of caregiver experiences and communication practices integrated into storybooks are largely absent from the literature. To address this gap a qualitative community-based action research study was carried out in three contiguous phases, with 22 caregivers during 8 focus groups in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. Phase one entailed exploring caregiver-child communication practices related to parental incarceration. The second phase involved creating topic-specific stories integrated with bibliotherapeutic principles drawn from caregivers’ perceptions and narratives. The third phase included developing a web portal to host digital storybooks and companion resources. Catalytic validity was established through collaboration with the project team. Data analysis resulted in a robust theoretical framework and grounded theory entitled, Caregivers’ Family Relations Assessment and Communication Strategies (C-FRACS). Findings assert caregivers’ prerogatives on child well-being as a priority as it intersects with communication practices and epistemological concepts of explaining jail, prison, and parental incarceration to children.