Black Single Mothers and the Child Welfare System

Brandynicole Brooks, LICSW, is a clinical social worker who has worked in the child welfare arena for over a decade, providing crisis intervention, crisis counseling, comprehensive family assessment, and focused family counseling. She is also an adjunct professor of social work at the University of the District of Columbia and a graduate of the School of Social Work at the University of Alabama.

Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Historical Perspectives of Child Welfare and Intersectionality 1.1 Child Welfare Historically 1.2 The Women’s Movement 1.3 Black Women 1.4 Oppression 1.5 An Introduction to Intersectionality 2. Oppression in Child Welfare 2.1 A Separate Child Welfare System 2.2 Forms of Racism 2.3 Overrepresentation 2.4 A Mother’s Perspective 2.5 Child Protection Services 2.6 Re-entry 2.7 Addressing Oppression in Child Welfare 3. The Four Layers of Oppression and Child Welfare Practice 3.1 Ideological Oppression 3.2 Addressing Ideological Oppression 3.3 Institutional and Structural Oppression 3.4 Addressing Institutional Oppression 3.5 Interpersonal Oppression 3.6 Addressing Interpersonal Oppression 3.7 Internalized Oppression 3.8 Addressing Internalized Oppression 3.9 Removing the Weight of Oppression 3.10 Privilege 4. Transforming Child Welfare 4.1 Social Justice in Social Work 4.2 Social Justice in Action 4.3 Theoretical Perspectives 4.4 Future Practice