The Genius is Not Hidden––They just weren’t looking: Refusing erasure in the lives of Black foster youth

• In Event: Unforgetting Deficit Depictions: Disrupting Education Systems of Injustice to Unlock the Hidden Geniuses

Abstract

This session centers the educational experiences of Black foster youth by interrogating how
schools, in collusion with the foster system, produce conditions that frame these youth as
problems to be managed. Using an intersectional framework, we explore how
they are hyper visible in discipline yet invisible in conversations about care and opportunity.
Challenging deficit narratives, we offer recommendations to create supportive educational
environments that affirm Black foster youth as “hidden geniuses” (Muhammad, 2020). We
advocate for Black placemaking to reimagine schools as spaces of possibility and call on
educators and researchers to practice thick solidarity as co-conspirators in building conditions
where Black foster youth are seen, valued, and able to thrive (Liu & Shange, 2018; Tichavakunda, 2024). This session aligns closely with the AERA 2026 presidential theme of “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures” by highlighting the often-overlooked experiences of Black foster youth and interrogating the school-foster system nexus that perpetuates their marginalization. By employing intersectional analysis and framing Black foster youth as “hidden geniuses,” the session both resurfaces neglected narratives and calls for intentional acts of Black placemaking and “thick solidarity.” In doing so, it advances the conference’s imperative to move beyond deficit perspectives and reimagine educational research and practice as vehicles for recognition, affirmation, and transformative justice.

Authors

• Brianna Marche' Harvey, California State University - Fullerton

• Tyrone C. Howard, University of California - Los Angeles