The Adultification of Black Girls in State Care: Perspectives

The adultification of Black girls leads to them being perceived as being older than they are and held to behavioural expectations that exceed their age. This issue is particularly acute for Black girls in state care who often experience adultification in their dynamic with their parents prior to entering state care, in the form of adultification bias from professionals and foster parents in their time in state care and in the form of an adultified transition from state care. While anti-racist practice within the social care sector has been a key focus following the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, there is a need for an intersectional approach that recognizes the nuances of the adultification that  Black girls in state care experience.

This webinar is centred on the findings of an August-September 2023 Winston Churchill Foundation fellowship study in the USA. The study aimed to explore the grossly under-explored topic of the adultification of Black girls in state care and to enrich our understanding of the multifaceted nature of the adultification that Black girls in state care often experience while exploring experts’ perspectives on measures that could potentially be used by professionals that work with Black girls in state care to address this issue through the form of rich solution-oriented interviews and a focus group with professionals that have worked with and conduct research on adultified Black girls.

The study comprised of interviews with scholars in the USA and Canada, namely, Prof Linda Burton and social entrepreneur and PhD candidate Sadiyah Malcolm (author of the upcoming PhD thesis Yuh Tink Yah Big Ooman?). Prof Linda Burton discussed the significance of her groundbreaking conceptual model on adultification, that emerged from her Childhood Adultification in Economically Disadvantaged Families: A Conceptual Model study, how it is reflected in the adultification that Black girls in state care experience in their dynamic with their biological parent(s) prior to entering local authority care and what the professionals that work with them can do to support them in processing their experience in a healthy way whilst realizing their potential. Sadiyah Malcolm reflected on the mentoring that she has given Black girls in the USA (courtesy of her social enterprise) since 2013, her observations of the adultification that the girls experienced and the strategies that her organization has used to support them. Travonne Edwards, Andre Laylor, Rasnat Chowdhury and Prof Bryn King engaged in a focus group discussion in which they explored the findings of their 2023 study on the adultified transition from state care of Black children in state care in Ontario, Canada (Pushed, Dropped, or Fleeing from Care: The Narratives and Adultification of Black Youth Who Have Aged out of Ontario’s Child Welfare System) and potential strategies to address the issue of the adultification bias that they often experience from the professionals that are employed to look after them.

The findings of this study contained a rich range of strategies for professionals to more effectively address this issue: from Sadiyah Malcolm’s exploration of effective grassrootsinitiatives including peer-on-peer mentoring, to Prof Burton’s championing of a move away from a deficit- model in professionals framing of the impact of adultification on children to Travonne Edwards’ research team’s exploration of pragmatic things that professionals can do to better support these children to be treated like children and to experience the rich and healthy relationships with responsible adults that many of them have been deprived of prior to entering state care.

Attendees should leave the webinar with a richer understand of how and why Black girls in state care are adultified and potential strategies to address this issue.

Sylvia Ikomi is a recipient of an Economic and Social Research Council Stuart Hall PhD studentship on the adultification of Black girls in state care. She is an early career researcher, HE lecturer and qualified teacher. Sylvia delivers Continuous Professional Development training for teachers and social workers that is aimed at raising their awareness of the adultification of Black girls within the social care and education sectors and potential strategies to address the issue.

BASW members who are unable to view a personalised message above are encouraged to log-in prior to booking for this event to ensure professional development is recorded within your membership record & to ensure you are able to attend for free.

Taster session available for non-members of BASW.* Non-members of BASW keen to learn more on the benefits of membership and receive updates on the valuable work we do are welcome to sign-up to our communication updates here. When you sign-up, you’ll automatically receive a registration code that can be used to waive the admin fee. 

*Subject to availability. Terms and conditions apply.