Class 4 continued

Question 1

Ecological Perspective

Answer 1

• Structure of black children’s lives more complex than white children. Involved in more settings
• Black children are older younger. Bicultural experiences encourage earlier maturity and independence.
• Relationships between black and white communities result in uncertainty to predict if their efforts will meet with success or failure.

Question 2

Black children are over represented in some of the high need social services systems

Answer 2

• In 2000, 56.5% of the 110,000 children waiting to be adopted were black.
• 14% live with a biological parent and a stepparent (Colman 2001)
• 2013, 23% of adoptive children are black (adoptive children emotional well being 26% diagnosed ADD/ADHD)

Question 3

Parenting Strengths of Black Families

Answer 3

• Lower marriage rate, lower percentages of divorce and remarriages make for less struggles in kinship relationships
• Permeability of family boundaries, parallel parenting households, parenting alliances cross over biological or legal role definitions (important lessons for other ethnic group of stepparents)

Question 4

Class, Color, and Gender

Answer 4

• A child moves in and out of one’s social group more readily if one is a part of the middle class.
• Black girls and women are treated differently than Black men.
• Females are perceived as less of a threat and can move in and out of larger culture with greater ease.