Promoting Better Outcomes for Black Girls with Multiple Youth-Serving System Involvement through Benevolent Childhood Experiences

Black girls in America have borne the burden of systemic disenfranchisement, enduring a legacy of injustice and discrimination. Scholarly discourse has persistently highlighted the systemic inadequacies of the youth-serving systems—the Child Welfare System (CWS), Juvenile Legal System (JLS), education system (ES), and mental health system (MHS)—despite their role in safeguarding vulnerable youth. Youth involved with the CWS are more likely to have JLS contact and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), yet research on benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) for Black girls with multisystem involvement remains limited. Further complicating this oversight is a lack of precision in quantitative measure of BCEs and system involvement, and inadequate collaboration between systems, perpetuating the marginalization of Black girls. This dissertation addresses these gaps by examining the relationship between BCEs, mental health, and educational outcomes for Black girls with no system involvement, single system involvement, and multisystem involvement. Utilizing intersectionality and Critical Race Feminism (CRF), this study critically analyzes data from the 2023 Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). Descriptive statistics reveal trends in system involvement and outcomes. Inferential analyses found no statistically significant difference in BCE scores or GPA across groups. However, Black girls with a dual status reported significantly higher likelihoods of depression and anxiety compared to those with no system involvement. Correlation analyses showed that higher BCE scores were significantly associated with higher GPAs within each group, with the strongest association observed among Black girls with a dual status. These findings underscore the strength of Black girls navigating system involvement and emphasizes the urgency of centering their strengths, voices, and lived experiences.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Hood, Alexandra N 1994-

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Boyce, Erin
• Walton, Quenette

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Lea, Charles
• Dettlaff, Alan
• Blakey, Joan

• Social service
• Social psychology

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/19615

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/19615