Resistance Through Achievement: Counter-Storytelling and Children of Incarcerated Parents

• In Event: Unapologetic Narratives Through Direct Experience: Success and Resiliency Among Black Children of Incarcerated Parents

Abstract

Children of incarcerated parents (CIP) are often presented in academic literature as “at-risk” youth who are vulnerable to adverse outcomes. While the impact of parental separation and exposure to the criminal justice system should not be underestimated, the focus on adverse outcomes can further stigmatize CIP; (un)intentionally reinforcing stereotypes and eroding support. This stigmatization is harmful because it may discourage families from seeking the support they need due to fear of societal ostracization. It can also lessen the amount of support directly impacted youth receive by implying that their future (or lack thereof) is pre-determined. Using stigma as a theoretical framework to understand how incarceration touches not only those who are currently behind bars, but also those who love them, this paper aims to push back against deficit-based narratives. Utilizing counter-storytelling, a method central to Critical Race Theory, this paper will focus on the personal story of the author- a directly impacted Black woman who is also a successful scholar and researcher. It aims to complicate the narrative that parental incarceration is a moral failing of an individual and/or community and instead examine the systems that perpetuate mass incarceration, family separation and reinforce racist and classist societal perceptions.

Author

• Whitney Hollins, Howard University