Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System: Why Do They Exist, and What Can Be Done to Address Them?

Abstract

Children of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system, and Black children have been most significantly impacted by this racial disproportionality. Racial disproportionality in child welfare exists because of influences that are both external to child welfare systems and part of the child welfare system. We summarize the causes of racial disproportionality, arguing that internal and external causes of disproportional involvement originate from a common underlying factor: structural and institutional racism that is both within child welfare systems and part of society at large. Further, we review options for addressing racial disproportionality, arguing that it needs to be rectified because of the harm it causes Black children and families and that forcible separation of children from their parents can no longer be viewed as an acceptable form of intervention for families in need.

A Population-Level Examination of Incarcerated Women and Mothers Before and After the California Public Safety Realignment Act

“…Future research should examine the effect of increased reliance on county justice systems and alternatives to incarceration on women and mothers with justice system involvement and children with incarcerated mothers, particularly among children born to Black mothers. Further, it is unknown if reductions in female incarceration have affected the need for or duration of out-of-home foster care placements in California, a population in which Black children are overrepresented (Dettlaff & Boyd, 2020 ). However, prior research has established a relationship between maternal incarceration and both child protective services involvement and the termination of parental rights (Dworsky et al, 2011 ; Gifford et al, 2021 ).…”

Towards a critical decision-making ecology approach for child protection research

“…Yet another study showed that caseworkers who had higher proportions of African Americans or Hispanics in their caseload had less disproportionate outcomes in their decisions, suggesting exposure reduced racial bias (Baumann et al, 2010). These important studies are the basis for more recent explanations of disproportionality in the US and other contexts, that combine both increased risk and decision-making bias across the wider ecology, as sources of inequities relating to structural racism and disproportionate outcomes (Dettlaff and Boyd, 2020;Feely and Bosk, 2021;Keddell and Cleaver, 2020). Other studies utilising the DME examine the relationships between equitable access to service provision and contact with CPS, for example, finding in Canada that the proportion of Aboriginal Canadian children notified to a specific agency affects disproportionality, suggesting a lack of culturally relevant services outside of the CPS agency increases Indigenous disproportionality (Fluke et al, 2010).…”

The Child Maltreatment Prevention Landscape: Where Are We Now, and Where Should We Go?

“…Notably, economic conditions feature heavily across the multilevel axis of risk for multiple forms of violence (Wilkins et al 2014). A consistent body of research demonstrates the relationship between economic hardship and child maltreatment (e.g., Berger and Waldfogel 2011) and its disproportionate impact on children of color (see Dettlaff and Boyd, this volume).…”