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Recognizing complex trauma in child welfare‐affected mothers of colour
Author(s) -
Stephens Tricia N.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/cfs.12579
Subject(s) - welfare , psychology , interpersonal communication , qualitative research , mental health , developmental psychology , welfare system , lived experience , social psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , sociology , political science , social science , law
Child welfare‐affected mothers of colour live with the deleterious effects of complex trauma unrecognized by the child welfare system. Child welfare system instead focuses on mothers' more overt functional difficulties, facilitating a misalignment between mothers' felt needs and mandated services. Qualitative data from a mixed‐methods study were used to explore the phenomenon of complex trauma in 20 urban‐dwelling mothers using a combined interpretive phenomenological and directed content analysis. Mothers experienced chronic and compound exposure to traumatic events. Themes of interpersonal violations of trust and pervasive mistrust of others, revictimization, absence of appropriate mental health treatment, and maternal growth emerged. Implications for utilizing a trauma‐informed approach for policy and practice are discussed.