| dc.description.abstract | This study aimed at establishing the welfare of children with parents in incarceration in Wakiso district in order to inform programming for support interventions for such children and their families. The analysis was done in the context of a community that has several prisons with a large urban population that is susceptible to committing crime and thus being incarcerated, leaving behind their children. Despite the presence of child-focused non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that would potentially advance the welfare standards of children, hardly any research has been done on children, and literature exists in the Ugandan context about parental or guardian incarceration and children’s welfare, hence the need to carry out this study. A cross-sectional survey design was used to measure the outcome of parental or guardian incarceration and children’s exposure to situations of absence of a parent or guardian in a family. 161 individuals (parents or guardians in prison, children, and caregivers) were selected using simple random sampling, and 11 key informants were purposefully selected and interviewed, respectively, from 15 sub-counties of Wakiso district located in the central part of Uganda. Descriptive and analytical data was generated using SPSS Version 21.0; frequencies and other statistical manipulations were performed during quantitative data analysis, while thematic analysis was used to develop qualitative findings. The study results show that as parents or guardians stay longer in prison, the welfare needs of the majority of their children remain unmet. Among the needs children had were: parental love, education, feeding, clothing, bedding facilities, going to places of worship, and playing (play items). The longer the parent or guardian stays in prison, the poorer the social, psychological, economic, and educational conditions of children become. Given the situation of the absence of a parent or guardian due to incarceration, children cope by getting friends and choosing to keep parental or guardian incarceration a secret. Among the challenges these children faced were that the majority lacked access to educational materials, dropped out of school, and were discriminated against and stigmatized. Thus, it is recommended that all key stakeholders be involved in identifying and addressing the social and rights-based needs of children with incarcerated parents in order to create safe community environments for children, families, and persons in incarceration. | en_US |
