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Guest Editors' Introduction, Sherri Simmons Horton, Sharon Mcdaniel, Yven Destin

Journal of Family Strengths

In this introduction, the guest editors of this special issue share their call to action in support of Black crossover youth.

Migrant Protection Protocols: An Examination Of Its Consequences And Impact On Child Enrollees, Mercedes Valadez

Journal of Family Strengths

The Trump administration made major changes to long standing immigration and asylum protocols and practices. Among the changes was the implementation of the 2019 Migrant Protections Protocols (MPP), otherwise known as the “remain in Mexico” program. MPP required asylum seekers to reside in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court hearing. Asylum-seekers, including children, were forced to live in unstable and unsafe conditions. Families were separated and children were forced to endure unanticipated hardships and trauma. Using secondary data of child MPP enrollment from fiscal year (FY) 2019 through FY 2021 and letters from child MPP enrollees, this study explores the …

Unaccompanied Minors At The Border: Opinions Of Latino Adults, Myrna Cintron, Michael Nojeim

Journal of Family Strengths

Abstract: Since the summer of 2014, U.S. citizens have become increasingly aware of a new wave of border crossers, children who are making the journey alone, without a parent or guardian, and who left their home countries to find their way to the U.S. These children became known by many names on the news, but their official federal label is Unaccompanied Alien Children. The group makes up 18.7% of the U.S. population. It is the fastest growing group in the U.S. While the overwhelming majority of the Latino origin population in the U. S. is of Mexican, Puerto Rican, …

Overrepresented And Under Discussed: From Conceptual Analysis To Practical Implications For Crossover Among Black Girls, Karen M. Kolivoski, Alexandra Miller, Macon Stewart, Sherri Y. Simmons-Horton

Journal of Family Strengths

Crossover youth are young people who have experiences of maltreatment and exhibit delinquency, which may or may not come to the formal attention of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Black youth are overrepresented among the crossover youth population, and evidence suggests that Black girls who experience crossover are particularly in need of specialized attention. Black girls’ experiences within child welfare, juvenile justice, and related systems are unique given the intersection of race and gender in light of issues such as discrimination, disparate treatment, and abuse undergone while in the care of agencies touted to protect them. Guided by …

Dual Status And Adultification: Black Girls' Lives In Context, Alexandra N. Hood

Journal of Family Strengths

In the United States, Black youth are consistently overrepresented in the child welfare and juvenile carceral systems. However, Black girls represent an invisible population whose lived experiences are historically devalued and silenced. Scholars have begun to explore Black girls in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, the adultification of Black girls, and the lives of crossover or dual-status youth[1]. That is, youth who have been involved in both the juvenile and the child welfare systems simultaneously or at different periods. Previous research on crossover youth has focused on young boys—primarily Black and Latino males—from the perspective of …

Mental Health And The Intersectionality Of Race And Gender Of Crossover Youth, James Freeman, Shieláh Deblanc, Shani Yeldell, Passion Williams, Christine White-Taylor, Jacquet Toliver

Journal of Family Strengths

Abstract

African American youth and their kinship families engaged in dual systems of care (i.e., child welfare system and juvenile justice system) commonly known as “crossover youth” can become overwhelmed by the competing priorities of both systems. While one system purports to advance a best interests standard of children in out of home care, the other, is stated to be centered on tenets of restorative justice. Children and families simultaneously involved in systems that are incompatible can be very difficult to negotiate. In addition to the traditional developmental gaps in crossover youth development there are subsequent layers that contribute to …

Pueblos Y Ranchos: The Role Of Latino Fathers And Community Leaders In Serving Latino Families In Rural Northwest Iowa And Southern Minnesota, Ruben Viramontez Anguiano, Melissa Martinez, Jorge Chavez, Sarah M. Harrison, Jennifer Jacob Bellowe

Journal of Family Strengths

This ethnography study explored the role of Latino fathers in family life and their children’s education before and during the pandemic. The study also examined the role of Latino leaders and ally leaders in serving Latino fathers and their families in Northwest, Iowa and Southern, Minnesota before and during the pandemic. The sample consisted of 40 Latino fathers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua and 22 leaders of Latino and European American backgrounds. The study utilized different qualitative inquiries including the larger ethnography, testimonios and observations to collect the data. Key findings included that the Latino fathers were …

Family Strengths And Immigration

Journal of Family Strengths

This special issue is dedicated to issues related to the intersection of immigration, associated risks, and family strengths. Although documentation of experiences of immigrants with justice and child welfare systems has increased over the last five years[1], there remains much to be documented to facilitate an understanding of the challenges that immigrant families face and their strengths in overcoming risks. For example, the need for placement and care for unaccompanied, refugee, and immigrant children has grown exponentially and placed a strain on the already under-resourced child placing and foster care systems.[2] These youth are often less considered …

Predictors Of Traumatic Experiences And Mental Wellbeing Among Recent Immigrant Mothers And Children, Andy U. Torres, Frances Morales, Amanda Palomin, Marika Dawkins, Alfonso Mercado

Journal of Family Strengths

Immigrant mothers face numerous challenges and unique stressors related not only to their role as asylum-seekers but also to their roles as women and caretakers. Some studies suggest that immigrant mothers may exhibit high internalizing symptoms related to pre-migration trauma exposure, while others claim that such symptoms may be due to the internalization of their children’s mental health. In view of this, a total of 60 recently arrived immigrant mothers and their children from Central America, predominantly the Northern Triangle, who arrived via the U.S-Mexico border were sampled. Immigrant mothers and their children were administered a Spanish battery containing health …

Parental Understanding Of Mental Health In Early Childhood Development: A Human Capabilities Approach, Fatiema Benjamin, Inge K. Sonn, Edna G. Rich Dr., Jenny Rose Dr., Nicolette V. Roman Prof.

Journal of Family Strengths

Background: the family is central to a child’s development and well-being. Parental understanding of mental health or psychological distress have a significant effect on child development including their mental health. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore parents understanding of mental health in early childhood development.

Methods: semi-structured interviews with 12 parents of children in early childhood development were conducted. Five themes emerged from the thematic analysis: (1) Understanding mental health; (2) Perceptions of parental mental health in relation to the child; (3) Child’s behaviour when experiencing different emotions; (4) Child’s behaviour when witnessing parent’s emotions; and (5) …

The Online Environments Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth: Contexts Of Risk And Resilience, Alexa Martin-Storey, Alicia A. Lapointe, Alice Girouard, Marie-Michèle Paquette, Sophie Bergeron

Journal of Family Strengths

Adolescents, in general, are spending more time in online environments, and understanding how youth navigate these contexts may be particularly important for addressing and improving outcomes among sexual and gender minority youth. Taking a developmental perspective, this review discusses online environments as contexts of both risk and resilience for youth in gender and sexual minority communities. In particular, we review literature highlighting how online environments provide a context for many salient aspects of adolescent development, including the promotion of identity development and the exploration of intimate, romantic and sexual behavior. The potential for online environments to serve as contexts for …

Our Youth Are Our Solution, Not Our Problem, Enrique Romo Ph.D., Mba

Journal of Family Strengths

Young men of color encounter challenges and systems that were designed to exclude them. Education is one such system that often prevents minoritized and historically excluded populations from fully achieving their aspirations and true educational potential. This essay illustrates pathways taken by young men of color after high school graduation and exposes deficit narratives that further alienate them. Conversely, it highlights perseverance and different types of capital that uplift and encourage young men of color to resist, persist, and succeed even when the odds are stocked against them. Further, it provides a call to action to empower and uplift our …

How Life During A Pandemic May Have Contributed To Homicide In Houston, Texas, Ciarra Hastings Blow

Journal of Family Strengths

This study offers an examination of a sample of 150 homicides in Houston, Texas in 2020 as described by local news sources. The purpose was to understand dynamics that may explain what appears to be an increase in domestic disputes that led to increases in homicides. This mixed method study utilized content analysis that included quantifying the patterns of concepts in the news reports to isolate racial, gender and location factors. Data are displayed in tables and figures to illustrate patterns and regression analyses indicate predictive relations. The study is important given the recent homicide increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, …

Issue Editor Reflection, Stella L. Smith, Susan Frazier-Kouassi

Journal of Family Strengths

This special issue of the Journal of Family Strengths enhances the conversation related to interventions that will be most helpful to assist our African American and Latino males be successful in the classroom. Unique to this issue is a series of Prospectus from the Field op-ed pieces from emerging scholars and seasoned administrators. As we consider the impact of low academic achievement on African American and Latino males throughout the P-20 educational continuum, we are delighted to feature new perspectives on this critical issue in this special issue.

The Pandemic And The Pre-School To Prison Pipeline: A Public-School Teacher's Perspective, Barbara Garcia-Powell

Journal of Family Strengths

We simply do not have access to best practices for leading, teaching, and learning during a pandemic, as this experience is new. Quarantining, social distancing, teaching remotely, and learning from home have taught us so much about the endless possibilities of education. In this commentary, I share my perspective, as a public school teacher, on the connection between learning strategies implemented during the pandemic and the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

Nowhere To Run. Impact Of Family Violence Incidents During Covid-19 Lockdown In Texas, Edidiong Mendie, Abiodun Raufu, Emmanuel Ben Edet, Oludayo Famakin-Johnson

Journal of Family Strengths

The prevalence of family violence incidents experienced an exponential rise during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The pandemic ushered in a new threat to life which was complicated by the restriction on mobility. Given the stay-at-home order enacted by different States, victims of family violence were compelled to face their abusers with no escape route, particularly intimate partners. This work is an exploratory study that analyzed the trends of family violence cases in selected Texas counties pre covid-19 and during covid-19. The data revealed an increase in family violence incidents from 12 out of the 15 counties studied. This work offers …

Surviving Covid19 (Increased Domestic Violence, Marginalized Communities, And Innovative Solutions), Anjerrika R. Bean

Journal of Family Strengths

Surviving COVID19 (Increased Domestic Violence, Marginalized Communities, and Innovative Solutions) Domestic violence generally refers to violence occurring between residences within one single location. Intimate partner violence is domestic violence by a current or former spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other spouse or partner. IPV can take several forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, and sexual abuse. According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner contact sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, …

The Influence Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On At-Risk Populations Experiencing Stress And Family Violence: The Importance Of An Action Model., Ivor L. Livingston, Litonya S. Livingston-Doles

Journal of Family Strengths

Abstract

The paper was entitled: “The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on At-Risk Populations Experiencing stress and Family Violence: The Importance of An Action Model.”

As the title of the paper indicates, the paper had an ambitious task of showing how vulnerable populations, such as African Americans, because of racism, discrimination and subsequent inequities in their life experiences (such as inadequate health care, poor working conditions, a host of underlying health conditions, and potentially greater amounts of stress) are likely to become sicker with COVID-19 (higher morbidity and mortality) and, subsequently, more likely to experience higher than normal rates of …

Evaluation Of An After-School Program For African-American And Hispanic Male Youth: Please Call Me Mister, Herman Walston Edd, Angela Meshack Drph, Ashlie Smoot-Baker

Journal of Family Strengths

The novel coronavirus significantly impacted the lives of people worldwide. In the United States, the lives of children and youth were disrupted with school closures and lack of access to afterschool programs they previously attended. African American and Hispanic boys attending an after-school program in Franklin County, Kentucky, called Please Call Me Mister, were among the young people affected. A study was conducted to assess the impact of the afterschool program. The boys were surveyed at the start of the program in November 2017 and again in November 2020 to assess their injury risk, substance use, future orientation, resilience, and …

“Covid-19 And The Increase In Domestic Violence”, Sharlette A. Kellum

Journal of Family Strengths

Has COVID-19 caused a disaster within a disaster? While many were focused on saving the lives of those stricken by the virus, other were being killed by their intimate partners. What happens when there is nowhere to run? How can one reach out for help, when everyone they would have reached out to is also isolated? How can one find out if they’re being abused, if the resources they used to have access to have been depleted? Once the jobs are taken away, homes; internet; cell phones; cars and the like are soon to follow. What happens when one loses …

Determining The Theoretical Quality Of The Strengths Perspective: A Critical Analysis, Rigaud Joseph, Imelda Duran Herrera, Kaelyn Doyle

Journal of Family Strengths

This paper asks a relevant question that previous work has not yet answered empirically: what is the theoretical quality of the Strengths Perspective (SP)? This paper answers this question, using the Theory Evaluation Scale (TES) and peer-reviewed materials from the existing literature. The findings indicate that, as a theoretical framework, the SP is a high-quality practice model that aligns itself with the values of the social work profession. As a practice model, however, this perspective has room for improvement in the areas of falsifiability, empiricism, boundaries, and client context. This paper concludes with a discussion of these findings and their …

Planting A Seed: United States And Florida Response To Coronavirus-19 Pandemic-Related Hunger, Melinda L. Lewis Phd, Paula T. Rappe Lcsw, Bsw Program Chair, Janet D. Albury Msw, Miu Ha Kwong Phd

Journal of Family Strengths

Food insecurity and poor nutritional intake as a possible mental health risk factor for children, adolescents and adults are addressed from an ecological perspective in the midst of a global pandemic. During the recent global Coronovirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, approximately 10% of U.S. households reported greater difficulty finding adequate food sources than were experienced prior to the pandemic. In response to food shortages, the U.S. Federal government passed legislation approving state waivers which suspended income verification and eligibility deadlines to expedite food assistance approval process for families during the pandemic. This enabled state flexibility in allocating Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) …

Preserving Innocence: Ending Perceived Adultification And Toxic Masculinity Toward Black Boys, Erik M. Hines, Edward C. Fletcher Jr., Donna Y. Ford, James L. Moore Iii

Journal of Family Strengths

As early as the age of ten, Black boys are viewed as older, guilty until proven innocent by law enforcement (including school resource officers), and encounter a myriad of adverse racialized academic and social experiences (e.g., explicit and implicit biases) (Goff et al., 2014; Noguera, 2008). Dancy (2014) noted how Trayvon Martin, a Black male teen murdered for essentially being seen as threatening and intimidating, was viewed as adult-aged, deviant, troubled, and shiftless. Moreover, Black boys are expected to express minimum “signs” of weakness, vulnerability, and/or sensitivity. The aforementioned social persona may contribute to young Black men and boys not …

Making A Difference In Children’S Lives: Lessons Learned From Planning And Implementing A Virtual Summer Camp During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Andrea Mcdonald Ph.D., Camille Burnett, Sonia Boone, Angela Branch-Vital, Michael Mcfrazier

Journal of Family Strengths

Summer camps are known to increase knowledge and engage children during the summer holidays. However, the COVID-19 pandemic placed a freeze on all activities that required face-to-face interaction during the summer of 2020. The purpose of this paper is to describe the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a virtual summer camp for children. Our virtual camp “Whimsical Wednesdays" was hosted by a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) that is dedicated to changing children's lives and providing service to the community. We recruited children aged 6-12 to attend the virtual summer camp through informational flyers posted on the institution’s website, …

The Mediating Role Of Commitment And Relationship Satisfaction On Socioeconomic-Status And Stability, Timothy I. Lawrence, Logan A. Yelderman, Ariel Mcfield, Lasheka Allen

Journal of Family Strengths

Abstract

Predicting relationship stability has been studied in a multitude of ways; however, few articles examined the extent to which socioeconomic status, relationship satisfaction, and commitment associate with relationship stability guided by the investment model. Thus, using secondary data (N=331), Andrew Hayes’s PROCESS was used to assess whether relationship satisfaction and commitment mediated the relationship between socioeconomic status and stability while controlling for relevant relational and demographic characteristics. Results suggest that socioeconomic status was negatively related to commitment but not relationship satisfaction. Relationship satisfaction and commitment were both positively related to stability, but only commitment mediated the relationship between socioeconomic …

The Family-Directed Structural Assessment Tool: An Approach To Assisting Families Impacted By Covid-19, Tara Mclendon

Journal of Family Strengths

The COVID-19 pandemic jeopardizes many levels of society. The family unit, a foundation of societal structure and function, is particularly vulnerable to the unpredictability of this current crisis. The Family-Directed Structural Assessment Tool (FDSAT) offers a means by which service providers and families can reinforce structure within and around the family unit. This potentially offers a level of predictability and sense of safety during an extraordinarily challenging time. A brief history of the FDSAT is addressed, followed by an overview of tenets specific to the assessment tool. An in-depth case study is provided. This example demonstrates the use of FDSAT …

Risk And Protective Factor Specific To African American Youth And Adolescents: A Systematic Review, Darius Reed, Raymond Dewayne Adams

Journal of Family Strengths

Although existing suicide literature proposes that simply being African American protects against suicide (Nguyen et al., 2017; Street et al., 2012), few studies offer practical insights at mitigating suicidal ideations among African American children and adolescents let alone through a social work perspective (Reed, 2019). As the largest provider of mental health services in the United States (American Counseling Association, 2018), the field of social work research has understudied this phenomenon. While it is true that African Americans have experienced lower rates of suicide when compared to the general population (CDC, 2019), research has not compared the risk and protective …

Suicide Risks Among Children And Youth: Examining Predictors Of Suicide Ideation, The Disparate Suicide Risks For Certain Ethnic Groups, And How Best To Support Families

Journal of Family Strengths

This special edition of JFS underscores research on suicide risks among children and youth in the United States. The rate of death by suicide has increased for youth aged 10-24 by 50% over the last decade (Curtain, 2020). Death by suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth aged 10-24 (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2018; Herons, 2019). Supporting evidence indicates that most children and youth who have attempted suicide have a major mental illness, such as depression. Risk factors associated with suicide may include, but are not limited to, impulsivity, feelings of helplessness, rejection, prior …

Youth Crisis And Transition Services (Cats): Incorporating Family Peer Support Specialists To Assist Families During Crisis, Julie E. Magers, Amanda Ribbers, Sophia Nguyen, Rebecca Marshall

Journal of Family Strengths

Abstract

Introduction: Crisis and Transition Services (CATS) provides transitional mental health services to high-acuity youth discharging from emergency departments (EDs). A novel component of CATS is the inclusion of a family peer support specialist (FSS) on the care team, who provides direct support to the parent or guardian in developing self-advocacy, crisis management skills, and self-efficacy in navigating systems. The FSS is not a typical role in a clinically oriented crisis program; empiric evaluation of this role can help guide quality improvements in the program and in workforce recruitment, training and support.

Methods: Demographic and service data were collected …

Suicide Ideation, Depression, And Family Structure In Elementary Students, Amanda Koshollek, Collin Wright, Cass Henriques, Makaela Caldwell, Quintin Hunt

Journal of Family Strengths

Background: Little research has been done with suicidality in children under 12 but a growing amount of research suggests family systems play a role in childhood depression and suicide; to date, no measure for suicide ideation exists for children under 12. Aims: The aims of this paper are as follows: (1) to adapt a measure of suicide ideation for children under 12; (2) to test if this measure captures suicide ideation differently than depression; and (3) to determine if with whom children live serves as a protective factor against suicide. Method: A sample of 115 children between ages 8 and …