Addressing Racism within Family Support — This February and Beyond

Honoring each family starts with understanding the systems they live in

February is Black History Month and Family Support Awareness Month. While these two celebrations may seem separate, they are very much intertwined. The histories, stories, and lived experiences of children and families of color must be considered and celebrated for families to thrive. We must also be willing to do the hard work of critically looking at all the systems in which families of color must interact as they raise their families to ensure that they have an equitable opportunity for success.

Each child in every community deserves access to quality family support, to relationships that honor them, and to the same potential for a bright future as others. We are not fully supporting families without addressing racism and we are not addressing racism without supporting families. Simply put, family support is addressing racism.

There are many ways to support families—listening to them, being their advocate, ensuring they have what they need to be leaders, and providing needed social and emotional supports.  The work done by home visitors and parent educators to listen and support families’ goals is critical to ensuring children are safe, healthy, and ready to learn. Every family needs support from a range of sources:  friends, family, caregivers, community agencies and systems. It takes a village.

While support must come from many sources, not all families have access to the same support systems due to inequities that exist in all of our systems because of systemic racism. To properly provide family support, we must address racism.
 
Because of our country’s systemic injustices, children and families of color do not have access to the tools and supports they need to thrive because systems of support are inequitable and often inaccessible for families of color.

Families face added stress because of racism. Racism is experienced at the interpersonal level and at the system level. Families can encounter racism in our healthcare system, our economic system, workplaces, and our education systems. Inequities, injustice, and racism is embedded in all the systems in which families interact.

Racism operates on multiple levels in our country to maintain the status quo; however, there are individual, organizational, and structural policy changes we can make to dismantle this systemic racism and ensure equitable outcomes for all in North Carolina.

What Can We Do?

To ensure that children and families of color have the same opportunities for success, we must first recognize that providing support includes:

  • Recognizing, upholding, and celebrating individual families and their history, culture, and traditions.
  • Identifying instances of racism within each system and how the inherent racism affects families on a daily and long-term basis.
  • Acknowledging the stress-load people of color encounter daily and the role this plays as they navigate being a parent in a world that is often unjust and unaccepting of who they are.
  • Advocating for policies and practices to eliminate systemic racism to allow for more equitable support such as addressing early childhood suspension for young black children, a demographic disproportionally represented in preschool expulsion rates.

While many programs that support families offer concrete, emotional, and social support, not all approaches work the same for each family. It is important that we put in place policies, programs, and community resources to make sure families of color can have what they need to thrive—this often means taking a critical look at the systems that are in place and including those who are directly impacted by inequities in decision-making processes.

We must ask: What structural barriers and inequities exist in our journey to support children and families? How can we create policies and practices that benefit families in an equitable manner? What can we do to make our world more equitable, inclusive, and just for families of color?

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) elevates the importance of recognizing and honoring families’ racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Doing so validates a person’s family and self-worth and helps protect against adverse experiences.  Research also shows that discussing and supporting children and their families as they navigate and respond to the stressors associated with racism helps to reduce their effect.

Supporting Families as They Navigate a Racist World

This may involve:

  • Highlighting traditions and cultures to elevate a person’s family and self-worth in in-person interactions.
  • Entering conversations with the knowledge that families may have experienced hardships related to their race—leading to negative outcomes across their lifespan due to long-term stress.
  • Honoring and recognizing that families and communities hold the solutions for their children and aligning our systems of support to be culturally responsive and reduce stigmas.

Even with this evidence, however, racial trauma, prejudice, and discrimination are rarely a focus for programs supporting children and families and larger community work.

Shaping a New Anti-Racist System

Smart Start legislation requires that Smart Start dollars fund evidence-based, evidence-informed programs. Smart Start has a catalog of programs that have been carefully reviewed and curated for state dollars to fund local implementation. Within this catalog, there are 40 programs focused on family support to help children and families have what they need to reach their full potential. Additionally, this catalog includes programs that focus on racial justice work which is foundational to creating spaces where each child in every community in North Carolina can thrive.

Each child deserves a bright future and by focusing on creating anti-racist systems that allow for equitable family support we are one step closer.

Regardless of the home-visiting or parent education model that is being implemented, Family Support Professionals can authentically support families by intentionally celebrating families’ racial and cultural backgrounds and meaningfully engaging families in decision making to learn more about those backgrounds.

We must create a system in which each child can reach their full potential.  

Let’s work together to break down barriers, create inclusive and just systems, and ensure a bright, equitable future for every young mind.

Additional research and learning opportunities regarding family support, inclusion, equity, and racism are included below:  

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