Parenting in Precarity: Experiences of Black Mothers Impacted By Child Protection Services

Background:

Black families are overrepresented in Child Protection Services in the United States. Black families are more likely to have insufficient housing, income, generational wealth, and concrete supports which results in an increased likelihood of CPS exposure. Collapsing notions of good parenting with CPS decision-making about poverty-related neglect further codifies structurally racist discourses about Black motherhood into harmful policies, negatively impacts mothers’ self-perception and self-esteem, and diminishes parental autonomy. Black mothers in poverty and surveilled by the child welfare system face systemic control that impacts their parental behavior in disturbing ways. Mothers are held accountable for structural harms and parenting challenges, and ultimately punished for situations outside of their control. Given their exposure to and oversight by CPS authorities, they are compelled to navigate society in ways we often don’t consider. Our work assesses ways in which systemic racism and the lack of concrete supports constrain parenting decisions among CPS-impacted Black mothers in the United States.

Methods:

The study used a mixed methods approach to assess the lived experiences of Black CPS-impacted mothers. A phenomenological study design was used to elicit the lived experiences of Black mothers impacted by CPS in the U.S. Participants were recruited via online outreach to parent advocacy platforms across the U.S. Inclusion criteria included being Black or African American identifying birth mothers of children who were at risk for or deemed neglected. Participants completed a qualitative, voice-recorded electronic survey to capture details about their children, reasons for CPS exposure, and the impact of surveillance related to child neglect. Deductive analyses and coding were used to surface themes and inter-coder reliability analyses were used to confirm themes.

Results:

Experiences of (n=112) Black mothers were analyzed and salient themes related to racism, CPS oversight, and parental choices were identified. Themes included: system oversight and lack of resources constrain parenting choices (inaccessible child care, insufficient employment, CPS unresponsive or uninclined to understand context of poverty and impacts on parenting choices), being fearful of CPS and traumatized by CPS exposure; and exercising hypervigilance in documenting parenting behaviors and choices in fear of system oversight.

Conclusion/Implications:

What is termed neglectful parenting by CPS are really choices being made due to poverty, lack of access to concrete supports, and community-level risk factors beyond their control. Black mothers are disproportionately impacted by CPS, the threat of CPS exposure and intrusion may mediate/moderate their decision-making in terms of child care (or lack thereof). CPS must consider the untenable choices available to mothers and the racist antecedents of CPS involvement in a family’s life.