Authors Sheryl Brissett Chapman, Ralph Belk, Jasilyn Morgan, Krystal Holland, Bruce Tyson, and Omore Okhomina’s latest work entitled Black Male Youth Raised in Public Systems: Engagement, Healing, Hope (NASW Press) raises the provocative idea that Black men and boys raised by public systems should be entitled to specific legal protections designed to limit the intersectional harm experienced by Black male adolescents in the custody of public systems of care.

The book is the culmination of a decade of research collected during the authors’ work with nationally recognized and culturally specific model programs at The National Center for Children and Families (NCCF). Two-hundred Black adolescents participated in the project, offering first-hand accounts of the complexity of their life journeys while also voicing their own particular needs for healing. By presenting alternative frameworks, the authors contend that practitioners and academics must reconsider their approach and explore new avenues to facilitate the healing of young Black males who, by the very nature of their circumstances, trust no adults and experience no true safety.

“This [book] is a roadmap for anyone interested in going beyond rhetoric to action,” says Dr. Anniglo Boone, Executive Director, Consortium for Child Welfare, and Adjunct Faculty, Howard University School of Social Work. “[It] provides an in-depth and unflinching understanding of youth involved in public systems while simultaneously challenging society’s perceptions of what it means to be young, Black, and male in America. The book is inspirational and pays tribute to every Black male child that has felt invisible and misunderstood.”

Black Male Youth Raised in Public Systems is available for pre-order on NASW Press’ website: https://naswpress.org/product/53676.