"Trying to Keep Things as Normal as Possible for the Kids": Parenting Stress and Resilience within Wildfire Disasters

Despite the proliferation of disasters within our ongoing climate crisis, we know relatively little about the burdens and intersecting inequalities faced by parents in climate disasters and the diverse, creative ways parents promote resilience. Here, we present findings from interviews with Disaster Case Managers (DCMs, N = 13) in the West Coast of the United States after multiple massive wildfires, analyzed using grounded theory methods. Findings point to the disproportionate suffering of particular families (indigenous, LGBTQ, immigrant, low-income), as they had fewer resources and more overlapping sources of stress and marginalization that lengthened recovery periods. Loss of income, home, and community were profound risks for families, especially those multiply marginalized. And yet, parents rallied their parental capacity, working to ensure safety, belonging, routines, and connections, using internal and external resources. We conclude with implications for practice, emphasizing how post-climate disaster interventions must prioritize family strengths, parental capacity, and attention to long-standing injustices.