Depopulating Holding Centers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

这项研究扩大了我们对从拘留中心释放如何影响个人及其家人的福祉的科学理解。新冠肺炎疫情标志着美国一些社区发生了变化，为了保持社会距离和保护健康，暂时性个人的收容设施减少了。该项目利用数万名这样的人被释放的机会，调查从拘留中心释放对家庭福祉的影响，包括经济稳定、健康和福祉、与关键社会机构的接触以及儿童的教育结果。这项研究的结果将为联邦、州和地方各级的控股实践决策提供参考。本研究将采用纵向、混合方法和多视角的研究设计，跟踪调查300户经历了家庭成员控股状况变化的家庭。首先，该项目将对以前持有的个人进行多波电话调查，以记录随着时间的推移对个人和家庭的影响。第二，该项目将调查和访谈以前被关押的个人的家庭成员(例如，配偶、子女)。第三，这项研究将比较居住在加利福尼亚州的研究家庭的子组与加州健康访谈调查(CHIS)在同一时期观察到的具有代表性的类似情况的家庭样本。这使得这项研究的发现可以进行人口层面的比较，包括考虑到社区在新冠肺炎大爆炸期间同时面临的挑战。这一奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This study expands our scientific understanding of how release from holding centers affects the wellbeing of individuals and their families. The COVID-19 pandemic marked a change in some communities in the United States, such that holding facilities for transitory individuals were depopulated to allow for social distancing and protect health. This project takes advantage of the release of tens of thousands of such individuals to investigate how release from holding centers affects household wellbeing, including economic stability, health and wellbeing, engagement with key societal institutions, and children’s educational outcomes. The findings from this study will inform decision-making on holding practices at the federal, state, and local levels.This study will use a longitudinal, mixed-methods, and multi-perspective research design to follow up to 300 households that experienced changes to the holding status of a household member. First, the project will conduct multiple waves of telephone surveys with formerly held individuals to capture individual and household impacts over time. Second, the project will survey and interview family members (e.g., spouse, child) of formerly held individuals. Third, the study will compare a subgroup of study households residing in California to a similarly-situated, representative sample of households observed in the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) during the same time period. This allows the study’s findings to make population-level comparisons, including accounting for concurrent challenges faced by communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.