Aren't they just black kids? Biracial children in the child welfare system

Abstract

In the USA, African‐American children are overrepresented in the child welfare system. However, little is known about the child welfare system experiences of biracial children, who are predominately both White and African‐American. To better understand this population, data from public child welfare in a US county were used to examine biracial children in the child welfare system. Results showed significant racial differences between children in the child welfare system. Despite the common belief that biracial children will have experiences similar to African‐American children, the child welfare system seems to view them differently. Biracial children are more likely to be referred, rated as high risk and investigated compared with White or African‐American children. Their mothers were younger, and were more often assessed as having physical, intellectual or emotional problems. These caregivers were also considered to have lower parenting skills and knowledge compared with White or African‐American caregivers. Although the disproportionate representation of African‐American children in the system has been well documented, this study provides evidence that biracial children are also overrepresented. Despite the fact that this is a rapidly growing population in the USA, there is little research available about biracial children and their families.

Multiracial Children and Poverty: Evidence From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of Kindergartners

“…Hall () stipulates that adopting a more “biracial sensitive practice” should begin by determining “the class, social, and familial circumstances of the client” (p. 38). Despite this call, few studies on mixed‐race populations focus on the challenges of low‐income families (Fusco, Rauktis, McCrae, Cunningham, & Bradley‐King, ) or include groups most at risk for poverty and low‐income status, such as Black‐Hispanics (Romo, ). We argue that research and practice must look most carefully at the ways challenges faced by children in low‐income families combine or perhaps are exacerbated by issues facing multiracial youth and similarly how the experiences of multiracial individuals may engage the difficulties facing poor children and adults.…”

Motherhood in Liminal Spaces

“…The current study was motivated by our previous work on racial disparities in referrals to child protective services in an urban county in Pennsylvania. An unexpected finding of the first study was that biracial children were referred to child protective services at 4 times the rate of white children, which was higher than the rate of referral for black children who were 3 times more likely than white children to be referred (Fusco, Rauktis, McCrae, Cunningham & Bradley-King, 2010). Moreover, a significantly higher proportion of biracial children (64%) were rated at moderate to high risk for future child maltreatment because of caregiver age or physical, intellectual, or emotional status, compared with the percentage of African American (44%) and white children (37%) rated at this level of risk.…”

“…However, little attention has been paid to the experiences of biracial black/white children and their families despite growing evidence that they may also be at risk for negative outcomes. For example, studies in the United Kingdom found black/white biracial children and their mothers to be disproportionately involved in child welfare services (Barn, 1999; Harman, 2010b) as have two studies in the United States (Fusco, Rauktis, McCrae, Cunningham & Bradley, 2010, Fusco & Rauktis, 2012). However, little social work research has been devoted to understanding the experiences of white women who have blurred racial lines by partnering with African American men and having children.…”

"If we don't talk about it, they'll never go away" : an examination of the experiences of and reactions to stigma by a diverse population of adoptive parents in the United States.

“…There are higher numbers of older African American children in foster care than any other population of children available for adoption (Fusco, Rauktis, McCrae, Cunningham & Bradley-King, 2010). Although there is a preference for infants in adoption practice because many prospective adopters desire to experience all of the stages of childhood, some prospective adopters are motivated to adopt bi-racially or adopt older children because they perceive the children as potentially disadvantaged and sincerely want to improve their lives (Zhang & Lee, 2010;Mallon, 2000).…”