Kavanagh, Shelley

Sex Offender Registry and Notification (SORN) and Sex Offender Residency Restrictions (SORR) laws and policies were developed and implemented with the intention of keeping communities and children safe, however many studies illustrate that these policies are in fact resulting in negative consequences for registrants and their families. All the existing studies focused on both registrants and family members, in most cases, spouses. A gap in the literature about the possible impacts on mothers of adult registrants was identified. Further, there was a lack of qualitative research, which, in highlighting the lived experiences and stories of mothers, is powerful and can have a significant impact on increasing social awareness.
The number of registered citizens continues to grow in Florida each year, and there are increasing numbers of families and loved ones of registered citizens that will need supportive and specialized therapeutic services. As a doctoral capstone, this qualitative narrative research involved one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 15 mothers of registered citizens throughout the state of Florida between March and November 2021. The aims of the study were to determine if mothers experienced the same impacts as other family members, or if their experiences were unique to mothering a registered adult child; to learn about how mothers coped with having an adult child on the Florida registry; and finally, what service providers need to know to adequately support this population.