“Always having hope”

Despite a substantial base of literature on father–child relationships, little is known about how incarceration affects these relationships, or how fathers connect with and support their children during the reentry period. In the Multi-site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting and Partnering (MFS-IP) sample, deterioration from preincarceration to reentry was evident in various aspects of father–child relationships, including reduced coresidence, financial support, and frequency of father–child activities. Multivariate modeling and qualitative analysis identified factors that shaped these aspects of
father–child relationships at reentry, including father–child contact during incarceration, child age, and fathers’ relationships with their partners or coparents.