MOVING TOWARD EQUITY Better Outcomes for All Children

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MOVING TOWARD EQUITYBetter Outcomes for All
Children

• REPORT OF MICHIGANS TASKFORCEON
  THEOVERREPRESENTATIONOF CHILDREN OF COLORIN
  CHILD WELFARE

Co-Chairs Carol Goss CEO President Skillman
Foundation Marianne Udow Director Department of
Human ServicesDecember 2005
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Blueprint for Change

• Disparities must be openly discussed and
  aggressively addressed, with systems established
  to create accountability for their elimination

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Blueprint for Change

• We must build on what we already know,
  collaborate at the state and local levels, and
  integrate current effective services and
  approaches

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Blueprint for Change

• Michigan should initially target its limited
  resources on the most vulnerable families, and on
  communities with the most pronounced
  overrepresentation of children of color in child
  welfare

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Blueprint for Change

• Children of color and their families need better
  access to culturally proficient, community-based
  supports and services

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Blueprint for Change

• The Department of Human Services must increase
  its capacity to reduce disparities through
  culturally proficient policies and practices

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Blueprint for Change

• We need to reach out more aggressively to
  communities, mandated reporters, the courts and
  the public to address issues of race, diversity
  and accountability

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Blueprint for Change

• We need to strengthen the range of placement
  options, with a focus on relative caregivers

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Blueprint for Change

• Families and youth must be included in all
  decision-making

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RECOMMENDATION 1

• PRIORITIZE FUNDING
• To ensure that culturally proficient home-based,
  community and tribally-based supports are
  available to safely divert families of color away
  from the child welfare system whenever it is safe
  to do so

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RECOMMENDATION 2

• MAXIMIZE TITLE IV-E ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDING
• Examine the current utilization of Title IV-E
  administrative dollars to ensure that Michigan is
  drawing down all federal dollars for which it is
  eligible

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RECOMMENDATION 3

• APPLY FOR IV-E WAIVER
• The State should apply for a Title IV-E waiver
  to allow the Department of Human Services to more
  effectively serve families who would otherwise
  have their children, especially children of
  color, placed in out-of-home care

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RECOMMENDATION 4

• REVIEW POLICIES, PROGRAMS, AND PROCEDURES
• DHS should seek external funding to conduct a
  review of its child welfare and juvenile justice
  policies, procedures, programs and contracts to
  determine whether they unintentionally
  disadvantage children, youths and families of
  color

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RECOMMENDATION 5

• CONVENE STATEWIDE MONITORING TASKFORCE
• DHS should establish an invitational State
  Advisory Committee on Children and Families of
  Color in Child Welfare to meet at least twice
  each year for the purpose of
• monitoring and assessing progress in implementing
  the recommendations of this report.
• provide advice to DHS and other appropriate
  partners on related policies, budgets, program
  design and contracts.

The Committee should be provided the
data/information and other tools to assess
progress in reducing overrepresentation,
including a means for evaluating racial
inequities across the child welfare system
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RECOMMENDATION 6

• INVOLVE FAMILIES AS PARTNERS
• DHS should adopt policies and practices that
  require staff to actively engage families as
  partners at each critical decision point in the
  child welfare and juvenile justice systems

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RECOMMENDATION 7

• INTEGRATE SERVICES
• To ensure that out-of-home placements are not
  solely related to economic barriers, the Michigan
  Legislature should fund additional DHS emergency
  services workers and family independence
  specialists (TANF) who could partner with child
  welfare workers to address the basics needs of
  all eligible families, especially families of
  color, in the child welfare system

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RECOMMENDATION 8

• BUILD COMMUNITY SUPPORT
• Community support for addressing
  overrepresentation by engaging community partners
  in efforts to raise awareness of disparities in
  outcomes for children in the states child
  welfare system

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RECOMMENDATION 9

• REQUIRE CULTURALLY PROFICIENT PRACTICES
• Require all staff to deliver services to families
  in ways that are respectful and supportive of
  cultural, linguistic, ethnic, religious and
  spiritual differences
• Training provided to child welfare staff should
  be redesigned to require a focus on culturally
  proficient practices by employees at all levels,
  and to reinforce strength-based, family-centered
  practices as an alternative to unnecessary
  out-of-home placements
• The cultural competency training should include
  creative strategies for successfully engaging
  families of color, and for involving relatives,
  neighbors and others in the community

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RECOMMENDATION 10

• SUPPORT VULNERABLE FAMILIES
• Services for extraordinarily vulnerable
  populations should be prioritized, and the State
  should allocate additional resources for services
  that can strengthen families and prevent costly
  out-of-home placements. Vulnerable populations
  include but are not limited to
• Teen fathers and mothers
• Relative caregivers, especially grandparents
• Fictive kin and informal caregivers
• Parents of children with emotional and/or medical
  needs
• Developmentally challenged parents
• Foster children who become parents while still in
  care
• Drug affected parents

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RECOMMENDATION 11

• REQUIRE DATA COLLECTION, MONITORING AND REPORTING
• DHS should establish data/information-gathering
  and reporting tools to track the impact of race
  and ethnicity at all key decision points in the
  child welfare system, to monitor progress on
  reducing disproportionality and disparities in
  child welfare and juvenile justice practices, and
  to inform public policy.
• Local offices should be required to establish
  work groups to ensure implementation of new
  policies and practices and to monitor local
  progress

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Thank You for your Thoughts,Guidance,
SupportandCommitment