ABSTRACT
Many children are stigmatized by labels such as at-risk, underprivileged, disadvantaged, or disabled, that create limitations on the child, and lower self-esteem. Culturally diverse children face even more labels and challenges within the U.S. because of prejudice, misrepresentations, and racism. This chapter explores the humanistic psychological perception of the child as emerging, as a means to give diverse children their dignity. In the multicultural humanistic psychologically oriented after-school program called Kidz n’ Coaches, the diverse group of children are called emerging children, which is a positive and optimistic term that focuses on the self-esteem and self-actualizing processes/goals of the child. The author explores the profile of emerging children throughout Kidz n’ Coaches’ 30-year timespan. This chapter explores how a multicultural humanistic psychology program is able to support the self-actualizing processes of diverse groups of emerging children.
