“It's just broken branches”: Child welfare-affected mothers' dual experiences of insecurity and striving for resilience in the aftermath of complex trauma and familial substance abuse

The voices of mothers of color who have been affected by the child welfare system are typically marginalized and are largely left unheard. Yet, attending to their experiences may yield a wealth of strategies for system change and for other women to change their path or avoid child welfare system involvement altogether. Using augmented qualitative analytic methods from two phenomenological studies that utilized the life histories approach, the current study lifts up the voices of 15 women of color with past child welfare involvement as foster youth (and, for many, as mothers). The study findings highlight experiences within two broad themes: a) immense insecurity; and b) resilience, across domains in the lives of child welfare affected women. The mothers in this study share their insights into the aftermath of complex trauma and substance abuse within their families, particularly the relational, housing, and financial insecurity it wreaked as well as how they garnered resilience through perseverance, faith and empathy, and establishing stable homes. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.