Race Matters: Achieving Racial Equity in the Child Welfare System October 18, 2006

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Race Matters Achieving Racial Equity in the
Child Welfare SystemOctober 18, 2006

• Presented by Dennette Derezotes, Executive
  Director, Race Matters Consortium _at_ Westat
• For the National Child Welfare Resource Center
  for Adoption
• Minority Adoption Leadership Development
  Institute
• Alexandria, Virginia
• October 18, 2006

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Todays Goals

• National Context
• Increased Understanding of Disproportionality,
  Disparities, and Structural Racism
• Developing A Personal Framework for Making Change
  

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The Race Matters Consortium

• History

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The Race Matters Consortium

• Mission
• The Race Matters Consortium is a national
  multi-system initiative that promotes strategies
  that prevent, intervene and eliminate and racial
  and ethnic disproportionality and disparities in
  the child welfare system. 

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The Race Matters Consortium

• Membership
• Our members comprise a national think tank of
  concerned experts in research, social work
  practice, public policy, and philanthropy who
  critically examine the issues related to racial
  and ethnic disparities and influence policy and
  practice through education and consultation.

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Common Terms

• Cultural Competence
• A set of congruent behaviors, attitudes and
  policies that come together in a system, agency
  or professional and enable that system, agency
  or professional to work effectively in
  cross-cultural situations. The word is used
  because it implies the integrated pattern of
  human behavior that includes thought,
  communication, actions, customs, beliefs, values
  and institutions of a racial, ethnic, religious
  or social group. The word competence is used
  because it implies having the capacity to
  function effectively. A culturally competent
  system of care acknowledges and incorporates--at
  all levels--the importance of culture, the
  assessment of cross-cultural relations,
  vigilance towards the dynamics that result from
  cultural differences, the expansion of cultural
  knowledge and the adaptation of services to meet
  culturally unique needs
• Source Cross, T. (1988) Fall, 1988 issue
  of "Focal Point", the bulletin of The Research
  and Training Center on Family Support and
  Children's Mental Health, Portland State
  University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207.

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Common Terms

• Overrepresentation
• Particularly in reference to African American
  and Native American children in the child welfare
  system has traditionally been used to define
  the (high) numbers of children of various racial
  and ethnic minorities in the child welfare system
  that are larger than their proportion in the
  general population. However, with more frequency
  the term disproportionality is being used to
  identify a broader concept of this problem. For
  many people, both terms hold the same meaning and
  are used interchangeably, but in fact they are
  not equivalent.

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Common TermsDisproportionality

• A situation in which a particular racial/ethnic
  group of children are represented in foster care
  at a different percentage than other
  racial/ethnic groups. Disproportionality can
  refer to a percentage by race that is greater or
  lesser that that of another race.
• Developed by Casey Family Programs with input
  from the Children and Family Research Center,
  SSW, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  and Westat.

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Common TermsDisparity

• Inequitable treatment (how the individual is
  treated) and/or services (types, quality, and
  quantity of services available) provided to
  minority children as compared to those provided
  to similarly situated Caucasian children.
• The calculation for disparity is a number
  which shows the relative number of children of
  one race per thousand that are in a particular
  situation as compared to the children of another
  race. For instance if the disparity rate for
  African Americans is 5.6 in reference to Whites
  this means that for every one White in a given
  situation there would be 5.6 African Americans.
• This number does take into account both
  population and situation (ie. placements) data.

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Common TermsExplicit Bias

• Our stated values which we use to direct our
  behavior deliberately

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Common TermsImplicit Bias

• Our unconscious attitudes

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Common TermsRace

• Race is not a biological or genetic
  category, but rather, a way of interpreting
  differences between people that creates or
  reinforces inequalities among them a political
  construct. In other words, race is an unequal
  relationship between social groups, represented
  by the privileged access to power and resources
  by one group over another.
• Manning Marable, Structural Racism and
  American Democracy, September 2000.

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Common TermsRacial Equity

• A social outcomes picture in which the
  distribution of societys resources,
  opportunities, and burdens are not predictable by
  race and race is not consistently associated with
  the incidence of privilege and disadvantage.
• What Do We Mean By Racial Equity, Aspen
  Institute Roundtable on Comprehensive Community
  Initiatives

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Common TermsStructural Racism

• the many factors that work to produce and
  maintain racial inequities in America today. It
  identifies aspects of our history and culture
  that have allowed the privileges associated with
  whiteness and the disadvantages associated with
  color to endure and adapt within the political
  economy over time. It points out the ways in
  which public policies, institutional practices
  and cultural representations reproduce racially
  inequitable outcomes.
• Aspen Institute, Roundtable on Comprehensive
  Community Initiatives Project on Racial Equity
  and Community Building, 2003,Operationalizing a
  Structural Racism Analysis The Structural Racism
  Theory of Change Process.

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Research Overview

• Black and Native American children are
  overrepresented in the Child Welfare System
  throughout the Country.
• Additionally, children of other racial and ethnic
  backgrounds are over/under represented throughout
  the country in various jurisdictions.

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Research Overview Incidence

• What does research tell us about racial
  differentials
• related to child maltreatment?
• Indeed, many studies that have been conducted in
  various localities across the nation have found
  higher rates of maltreatment among minorities
  than Whites. However, several national studies
  have obtained contradictory findings.
• Most importantly, all three waves (1980, 1986,
  1993) of NIS found no significant differences in
  overall child maltreatment between African
  Americans and Caucasians. On the other hand, NIS
  data consistently found higher maltreatment rates
  among low social and economic groups. Yet, when
  socio-economic factors are controlled for,
  maltreatment rates are lower among African
  Americans than Caucasians. While there have been
  many critiques of NIS, many of them have focused
  on features that were not part of the original
  sample design. On the other hand, DHHS continues
  to conduct exploratory studies that are
  responsive to these concerns in order to enhance
  the quality of data in future NIS surveys.

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Research Overview Incidence vs. Child Welfare
System Entry
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Children Enter the Child Welfare System When
Other Systems Fail

• Welfare policies are intrinsically linked with
  child welfare policies, since one must first
  qualify for public assistance before one is
  eligible for foster care IV-E funds. While the
  1996 welfare reform act has not yet had a major
  impact on the child welfare caseload, its effects
  are likely to be felt in future years, due to
  the expiration of five-year lifetime limits,
  continuing increases in child-only cases, and a
  slow growth economy.
• Mental health systems contribute to the
  concentration of children of color in child
  welfare. Since minority youth are more often
  perceived as having a learning disability or
  aggressive behaviors, they are more likely to be
  diagnosed as mentally retarded or prescribed
  medications to control their belligerence.
  Thus, there is a strong correlation between the
  overrepresentation of minority children in
  special education programs and their disparate
  representation in foster care. Minority children
  are also more likely than non-minorities to be
  taken from parents with mental disorders or to
  be placed in foster care for parental neglect or
  antisocial behavior.
• The Juvenile Justice system continues to be an
  important source for channeling minority youth
  into child welfare. About 15 percent of children
  in foster care were placed because of delinquent
  behavior or status offenses. Moreover, two-thirds
  of incarcerated mothers report that their
  children were being cared for by relatives
  (inside and outside of foster care) or in
  non-related foster homes.

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Children Welfare System Entry vs.Child Welfare
System Participation

• Race/Ethnicity
• Asian/Pacific Islander
• Black
• Latino
• Native Americans
• White

• Rates of Representation
• .39
• 2.43
• .79
• 2.16
• .76

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Child Welfare System Participation ofAfrican
Americans

• N. Carolina1.84
• Florida2.22
• New York2.26
• Maryland2.39
• Texas2.55
• Delaware2.56
• Michigan2.97
• Ohio3.39
• Overrepresentation of Children of Color in
  Foster Care, Robert B. Hill,
• www.RaceMattersConsortium.org

• N. Jersey3.74
• Indiana3.79
• Pennsylvania3.80
• Illinois3.93
• California4.14
• Minnesota4.77
• N. Hampshire4.93
• Wisconsin5.48

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Child Welfare System Participation ofLatinos
and Native Americans

• Latino
• State Representation Rates
• New Hampshire 1.89
• Connecticut 1.72
• Maine 1.62
• Pennsylvania 1.54
• North Dakota 1.52
• Delaware .91
• North Carolina .89
• New York .80

• Native American
  
• State Representation Rates
• Wash State 50.31
• Nebraska 28.35
• Minnesota 9.28
• S. Dakota 8.88
• Indiana 7.89
• Georgia 5.77
• N. Carolina
  1.75
• N. Jersey
  1.46

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The Impact of the Child Welfare System on Child
Welfare System Participation

• Decision Making
• Federal, State and County
• Agency
• Site
• Supervisor
• Worker

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The Impact of the Child Welfare System on Child
Welfare System Participation

• Disproportionality - Some Key Decision Points
• Hot line calls
• Accepting Reports for Investigation
• Substantiations
  
• The Decision to Place or Provide In-home Services
  
• Type of Placement
• Type of Services
• The Decision to Reunify
• Other types of Permanency
  
• Other types of Exits

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Factors that Influence Child Welfare System
Participation

• Individual and Family Factors
• Community Factors
• Systems Factors
• both the child welfare system and previous
  systems impact children and families (including
  structural racism)
• McCrory et al., 2006 National Association of
  Public Child Welfare Administrators, 2006 US
  ACF, 2003).

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The Impact of Race on Child Welfare System
Participation

• Most of the studies reviewed identified race as
  one of the determinants of decisions at the
  stages of
• Reporting
• Investigation
• Substantiation
• Placement, and
• Exits from Care
• The only stage where there were no racial
  differences was regarding rates of Reentry into
  the child welfare system.

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The Impact of Race on Disparities in the Child
Welfare System

• Disparities
• Choosing Services
• Child welfare research consistently finds
• that minority children are at a disadvantage
  regarding
• the range and quality of services provided,
• the type of agency to which they are referred,
• the efficiency with which their cases are
  handled,
• the support
  their families receive,
• and
  their eventual outcomes
• (Courtney et al, 1996 Daniel, Hampton and
  Newberger 1983 Fanshel 1981 (Garland, Landsverk
  and Lau 2002). Jeter 1963 Maluccio and Fein
  1989 Olsen 1982).

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The Impact of Race on Disparities in the Child
Welfare System

• Disparities
• Choosing Services
• Racial differences were found in the NSPPS
  study of child welfare services in three areas
• parenting skills,
• caretaker substance abuse problems,
• and housing problems.
• Caucasian families with housing problems were
  offered housing services more than African
  American families with housing problems.
• On the other hand, African American caretakers
  with substance abuse problems were more likely to
  be offered substance abuse services than
  Caucasian caretakers with substance abuse
  problems.
• Similarly, African American caretakers with
  parenting problems were more likely to receive
  parenting services as Caucasian caretakers with
  parenting problems.

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The Impact of Race on Disparities in the Child
Welfare System

• Disparities for CWS Alumni
• Outcomes
• Disproportionate numbers of minority youth who
  age out of the system have a wide range of
  emotional, mental, educational and behavioral
  problems, and may become homeless, prostitutes,
  criminals, and drug addicts.
• Casey Family Programs Alumni Study

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The Impact of the Child Welfare System on Child
Welfare System Participation

• Decision Making
• Federal, State and County
• Agency
• Site
• Supervisor
• Worker

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• A Focus on Exits from Care

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Racial Disproportionality in Exits From Care

• Most studies have revealed that major
  contributors to the disproportionality of
  children of color
• are their slower rates of exit from care.
• Clearly, the slower rates of reunification and
  adoption of children of color contribute to their
  overrepresentation in the child welfare system.

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understand your agency

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understand your agency know the numbers

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understand your agency
• learn the racial climate

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understand your agency racial climate
• Examine Agency Goals
• How were the agency long and short term goals
  established?
• By whom?
• Do they mention anything about racial or
  ethnic capacities?
• Is the wording culturally sensitive?

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understand your agency racial climate
• Addressing Structural Racism
• Is there language to address structural
  racism in the mission,vision and or goals?
• If not, (how) is it being addressed at the
  agency?
• Through Policy
• Through Practice
• Is structural racism addressed effectively at
  your agency?

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understand your agency racial climate
• Achieving Racial Equity
• Does your agency define Racial Equity? How?
• Is there language to address racial equity in the
  mission, vision and or goals?
• If not, (how) is it being addressed at the
  agency?
• Through Policy
• Through Practice
• In Training
• Is structural racism addressed effectively at
  your agency?

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understanding your agency racial climate
• Development of Cultural Competence
• Does your agency define Cultural Competence?
  How?
• Is there language to address racial equity in
  the mission, vision and or goals?
• If not, (how) is it being addressed at the
  agency?
• Through Policy
• Through Practice
• In Training
• Is structural racism addressed effectively at
  your agency?

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understanding your agency racial climate
• Support to Achieve Racial Equity
• To what extent do agency management reinforce
  culturally appropriate practice and methods?
• To what extent is consultation available to staff
  concerning racial or cultural issues?
• To what extent have decision making and other
  practice tools been tested to determine if they
  are effective across racial groups?

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understanding your agency - racial climate
• Access to culturally relevant services
• Are there services that your agency currently
  does not provide or is in short supply that would
  be especially helpful to certain racial groups?
• Are there barriers to service access that certain
  racial/ethnic groups are experiencing due to
  hours? Transportation?
• Lack of linguistic skills of staff? Office
  Location? Other Factors?
• Is there a way for staff to communicate this
  information to administration?

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understanding your agency racial climate
• Community Relationships
• What is your agencys philosophy about working
  within the community?
• What types of relationships does the agency have
  with other agencies?

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Understanding your agency racial climate
• Review your understanding of each of the above
  aspects of your agency.
• Determine the type of environment within
  which you are working.
• Move forward with this knowledge.

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Developing a Strategy - Examine Current Decision
  Making
• - Choose Point of Disproportionality
• - Examine Current Federal Policy
• - Examine Current State Regulations
• - Examine Site/Department Practices
• - Examine Available Resources
• - Examine Your Own Decision-making

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Moving Forward to Create Racial Equity

• Develop a Personal Strategy
• Make Change!!