Countering the Deficit Model: Resilience and Challenges Among Black Children of Incarcerated Parents

• In Event: Rutgers at 50: Problems of Racial and Social Injustice

Abstract

This paper challenges the global assumption that the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, as it relates to Black children of incarcerated parents and their potential for achievement and success. Based on more than a decade of accumulated qualitative data gathered from interviews with the adult children of Black incarcerated parents, it provides an empirical counter-narrative to persistent theoretical assumptions that implicitly or overtly connect Black criminality to hereditary biological traits or otherwise posit that Black children whose parents are incarcerated will also become incarcerated in the future. The findings suggest that historical assumptions which stem from enslavement still operate in subconscious and conscious ways to trigger systematic, structural, and interpersonal stigma and/or ostracization among Black families who have experienced incarceration and that these assumptions contribute to research focused on negative outcomes. In this paper, the author explores the intersectional experiences of adult children from these families as they navigate multi-layered challenges on the pathway to success; and highlights the importance of understanding the future trajectory of Black children of incarcerated parents through a lens of resilience rather than deficiency.

Author

• Bahiyyah Muhammad, Howard University