Context of Child Welfare Disproportionality

1
Context of Child Welfare Disproportionality
Disparities

• Race, Community and Child Welfare
• Carol Wilson Spigner, DSW
• October 9, 2007
• Louisville, Kentucky

2
Purpose

• Definition of key terms
• Scope of the problem
• Theories of causation
• Historical Precedents

3
Child Welfare SystemGoals

• Safety
• Minimum standards of care
• Coercive power of state
• Permanency
• Reunification
• Adoption
• Guardianship
• Wellbeing
• Achieving developmental milestone
• Method Decision making and service

4
I. Definitions

• Disproportionality-the relationship between a
  groups presence in the general population and
  their presence in the child welfare system
• Disparate outcomes - the varied levels of
  resolution (reunification, adoption,
  guardianship) of child welfare cases by group

5
Definitions

• Culture-Integrated way of thinking doing and
  believing that persists across at least three
  generations
• Race an aggregation of physical characteristics
  that are used to categorize people and to
  distribute rights and resources

6
Definition

• Institutional Racism- the way in which the
  policies and practices of organizations
  disadvantage certain populations on a consistent
  basis
• Internalized superiority
• Internalized oppression
• Structures that hold the social arrangements in
  place

7
II. What the Data Tell Us

• According to the US Census Bureau the 2005
  composition of the child population was
• 15 African American children
• 64 White Children --non Hispanic
• 1 American Indian children
• 4 Asian Pacific Islander children
• 19 Hispanic children

8
Race and Maltreatment

• ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL INCIDENCE STUDY OF
  CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT 2 and 3
• There were no significant race differences in the
  incidence of maltreatment and maltreatment
  related injuries.

9
Substantiation

• According to Child Maltreatment 2005, rates of
  substantiated maltreatment vary by race and
  ethnicity.
• American Indian or Alaskan Native and African
  American children have the highest rates of
  substantiated maltreatment when compared to white
  children
• American Indian /Alaskan native 16.5 per 1000
• African American 19.5 per 1000
• White 10.8 per 1,000 children
• Hispanic 10.7 per thousand
• Asian 2.5 per thousand

10
Maltreatment types

• According to Child Maltreatment 2005
• Neglect 63
• Physical abuse 16.6
• Sexual abuse 9.3
• Psychological 7
• Medical 2
• Other 14

11
Entry into Care

• Of the 311,000 children entering care in 2005
• 26 were Black as compared with 15 of the
  population (1.7x)
• 18 were Hispanic as compared with 19 of the
  population (1x)
• 47 were White as compared with 59 of the
  population (.79x)
• 2 were American Indian as compared with 1 of
  the child population (2x)

12
Foster Care Population

• Of the national foster care population (513,000)
  on September 30, 2005
• Black children comprised 32 as compared to 15
  of the child population (2.1x).
• Hispanic children comprised 18 as compared to
  19 of the child population (1x).
• White non Hispanic children comprised 41 as
  compared to 59 of the child population (.7x).
• American Indian children comprised 2 as compared
  to 1 of the child population( 2x).

13
Exits from Care

• Of the 287,000 children exiting care
• 28 where Black although they comprise 32 of the
  foster care population (.87x)
• 17 were Hispanic and they comprised 19 of the
  foster care population (.9x)
• 45 were white although they comprised 41 of the
  population ( 1.1x)
• 2 were American Indian and they comprise 2 of
  the foster care population (1x)

14
Exits to Reunification

• The proportion of children being reunified has
  declined over the last two decades.
• In 2005, 54 were reunified with parents and 11
  were reunified with other relatives.

15
Waiting Children

• Of the 114,000 children waiting to be adopted on
  September 30, 2005
• 36 (40,000)were African American
• 15 (17,240)were Hispanic
• 40 (45,096) were White
• 2 ( 2,120) were Native American

16
Exits to Adoption

• Of the 51,000 children exiting to adoption
• Black 30 15,230 of 40,840 (.36)
• Hispanic 18 8,959 of 17,240 (.53)
• White 43 22,088 of 45,096 (.48)
• Exits to adoption have increased and were
  comparable in to the proportion of children in
  care.
• Only 77 of the children legally free and 46 of
  the children with a goal of adoption found
  permanency through adoption.

17

• African American American Indian Children
• Comparable incidence of maltreatment
• Higher risk of being substantiated
• Higher risk of placement
• Longer length of stay in care
• Less likely to exit care
• Comparable but inadequate adoption rates

18

• Hispanic Children
• Appear to be proportionately represented through
  out the child welfare system

19

• White children
• Less likely to be substantiated
• Underrepresented at entry into care
• Underrepresented in placement
• Shorter time in care
• Slightly under-represented in adoptions

20
III. Explanatory Theories

• Group have poor parenting capacities
• Cultural predisposition
• Culture of poverty
• Personal inadequacy
• Lack of fit between needs and resources
• Visibility theory
• Small populations
• Public visibility

21
Explanatory Theories

• Social disadvantage
• Structural disadvantage
• Bad schools
• Poor health care
• Low paying jobs
• Risk of incarceration
• Health disparities
• Institutional / organizational racism

22
IV. Child welfare history and themes

• Child welfare services and outsiders are linked
• Common themes
• Cultural dominance
• Religious continuity
• Child rescue/resocialization

23
Colonial Times

• Problem unattached children, abandoned and
  orphaned children
• Indenture
• Apprenticeship
• Bonding out
• Slavery .peculiar protection
• Tribal children as enemies war and removal

24
The New Republic

• Almshouses
• Specialized philanthropic institutions
• Orphanages
• Houses of refuges
• Schools for the deaf and blind
• Tribal Schools

25
Post Civil War Era

• Context
• Disruption of the war
• Immigration increases bring new ethnic and
  religious groups
• Urbanization
• Social Darwinism/fear of the intergenerational
  transmission of pauperism
• Visibility of street children

26
Post Civil War Era

• Child caring societies /child protection
  societies
• Free foster home movement in the west/childrens
  aid societies
• Tribal boarding schools are federally funded
• African American children are cared for within
  the community and in segregated institutions

27
Early 20th Century

• Juvenile court.recognizes the special status of
  children
• Mothers aid
• Private confidential infant adoption services
  develop
• New Deal Programs are not inclusive
• Theory and practice of child placement is
  developed
• African American and Native children are excluded
  from these program

28
Late 20th Century

• Child welfare legislation institutionalized child
  welfare
• CAPTA
• ICWA
• 1980 Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare
  Amendments
• ASFA
• MEPA/IEP

29
Conclusion

• Disparities and disproportionality documented
• From exclusion to over inclusion
• Historical focus on child rescue,
  re-socialization and cultural dominance
• Bias is incorporated into the policies and
  practice that shape the behaviors of workers
  every day
• There is an untold cost to children, families,
  communities and society

30

• Time to move
• from
• examination
• to
• action