Resources & News - Family Wellbeing & Justice

Lab Resources and News

Resources

Caregiver & Child Community Resources Packet.
This packet provides community and county resources that can help when caring for and raising a child. Topics covered include parenting classes, food pantry information, and child care options.

Policy Brief
Improving Communication Access for Children with Incarcerated Parents

Promote Smart Decarceration Overview

This fact sheet discusses the Promote Smart Decarceration (PSD) Grand Challenge, an initiative aimed at reducing mass incarceration in the U.S. by advancing equitable, community-driven, and robust alternatives to the default punitive and carceral approach used in the criminal legal system. The PSD is one of the Grand Challenges for Social Work.

Policy Brief

Reducing the Criminal Legal System’s Footprint Through Smart Decarceration Policies

February 2025

Lab member Cece Babat is interviewed by PBS Wisconsin about her collaboration with The Crossing and Talik Akbar to bring a mobile prison cell to UW-Madison's campus to expose the negative consequences related to solitary confinement

January 2025

PhD student Grace Landrum presented a poster about a study examining the association between parental incarceration and financial contributions to children.

April 2024

Research Assistants Ava and Miranda, Jordan and Mia, and Grace present on the Parenting Inside Out and Making Reading Memories programs at the Undergraduate Research Symposium!

April 2024

Dr. Charles presents on her Parenting Inside Out work in WI, an evidence-based parenting skills training program developed for parents experiencing incarceration.

September 2023

Madison WKOW publishes an article regarding the Child Friendly Visit program at the Dane County Jail entitled "Contact visits at Dane County Jail connect parents, kids."

September 2022

PhD student Jacque Buck is selected for the Health Policy Research Scholars (HPRS) program!

August 2022

The Wisconsin Public Radio releases the article "Brown County Jail launches reading program to connect incarcerated parents with their kids" covering the Making Reading Memories project and its impact on families.

August 2022

Local Green Bay news station posts the article "Brown Co. inmates create memories with their children through reading program" describing the Making Reading Memories project.

April 2022

Lab members Jasmyne Short and Gene Grade each present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Dr. Charles receives the University of Wisconsin-Madison Award for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities.

April 2022

Lab member Jasmyne Short hosts the first event "Alternatives to Incarceration" for the UW-Madison Criminal Justice Reform Network in collaboration with MOSES and the Criminal Justice Reform Action Team.

August 2021

Dr. Charles attends The National Institute of Corrections in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Assistance and presented "Building Partnerships & Innovative Practices" as part of an ongoing webinar series from the Family Connections Project.

June 2020

The Cap Times spotlights work that the lab is doing in the Dane County Jail in their article, “Reaching out to dads in jail: Fathers and children do better when parental identity is supported”.