Depopulating Holding Centers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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.