Adultification aware

What is adultification?

Adultification is defined as 'the process or fact of treating or considering a child as if they are an adult, usually in a way that is wrong or harmful'.

What is the ‘Adultification aware’ campaign?

Following a research presentation about the adultification of Black girls for Oxfordshire Youth Justice Management Partnership Board’s Away Day in June 2024, the staff at Oxfordshire County Council explored steps that could potentially be taken to address this issue.

Since that session, Oxfordshire Country Council have collaborated with Sylvia Ikomi to produce and distribute awareness materials for organisations and individuals about the adultification of Black girls.

Why does this campaign matter?

The adultification of Black girls in state/local authority care is an under-explored research area and has severe consequences for Black girls. Adultification can be a contributory factor in young Black girls entering state/local authority care.

It can also result in social workers, teachers, foster parents and staff in children’s homes not giving these young girls the pastoral care they need, and lead to their placement in lower-quality foster care homes. To find out more, read our adultification aware brochure below.

Download the resources

The poster and brochure have been designed for you to read, download and share with your organisation, colleagues and carers that you work with to help understand and raise awareness about the adultification of Black children in state/local authority care, more specifically Black girls.

We encourage you to share our materials with your colleagues. To download the brochure and save a copy, click here.

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