Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System

442 Pages·2021·6.427 MB·English

by  Alan J. Dettlaff

Child Maltreatment:
Contemporary Issues in Research and Policy 11
Alan J. Dettlaff  Editor
Racial
Disproportionality
and Disparities in
the Child Welfare
System
Child Maltreatment
Contemporary Issues in Research and Policy
Volume 11
SeriesEditors
JillE.Korbin
SchubertCenterforChildStudies
Cleveland,OH,USA
RichardD.Krugman
UniversityofColoradoSchoolofMedicine
Aurora,CO,USA
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Alan J. Dettlaff
Editor
Racial Disproportionality
and Disparities in the Child
Welfare System
Editor
AlanJ.Dettlaff
GraduateCollegeofSocialWork
UniversityofHouston
Houston,TX,USA
ISSN2211-9701 ISSN2211-971X (electronic)
ChildMaltreatment
ISBN978-3-030-54313-6 ISBN978-3-030-54314-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54314-3
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Contents
PartI UnderstandingandIdentifyingRacialDisproportionality
andDisparities
1 IntroductiontoRacialDisproportionalityandDisparitiesin
ChildWelfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
AlanJ.Dettlaff
2 TheEvolvingUnderstandingofRacialDisproportionality
andDisparities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
AlanJ.Dettlaff
3 MeasurementIssuesinIdentifyingandDescribingRacial
DisproportionalityandDisparity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
NancyRolock,QianaCryer-Coupet,andColleenJanczewski
4 RacialDisproportionalityandDisparitiesAmongAfrican
AmericanChildrenintheChildWelfareSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
JessicaPryceandAnnaYelick
5 RacialDisproportionalityandDisparitiesAmongLatinx
Children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
MichelleJohnson-Motoyama,RebeccaPhillips,andOliverBeer
6 RacialDisproportionalityandDisparitiesAmongAmerican
IndianandAlaskaNativePopulations. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . 99
TerryL.Cross
7 UnderrepresentedPopulationsintheChildWelfareSystem:
AsianAmericanandNativeHawaiian/PacificIslander
Populations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
RowenaFongandGeorginaPetronella
v
vi Contents
PartII ExplainingDisproportionalityandDisparities
8 RacialBiasasanExplanatoryFactorforRacial
DisproportionalityandDisparitiesinChildWelfare. . . . . . . . . . . . 141
MarianS.Harris
9 DisproportionateNeedasaFactorExplainingRacial
DisproportionalityintheCWSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
BrettDrake,MelissaJonson-Reid,HyunilKim,Chien-JenChiang,
andDajiDavalishvili
10 ChildWelfareSystemIssuesasExplanatoryFactorsfor
RacialDisproportionalityandDisparities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
MicheleD.Hanna
11 HowPlaceMattersinChildMaltreatmentDisparities:
GeographicalContextasanExplanatoryFactorforRacial
DisproportionalityandDisparities. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. 199
KathrynMaguire-Jack,JillE.Korbin,AdamPerzynski,
ClaudiaCoulton,SarahA.Font,andJamesC.Spilsbury
PartIII ConsequencesofDisproportionalityandDisparities
12 IndividualConsequencesofRacialDisproportionality
andDisparities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
ReikoBoyd
13 TheCommunityImpactofRacialDisproportionality:
TheRacialGeographyofChildWelfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
DorothyRoberts
PartIV PreventingandReducingDisproportionalityandDisparities
14 PreventiveIntervention:AKeyStrategyforAddressing
ChildWelfareDisparitiesandDisproportionalityfor
AfricanAmericanFamilies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
BrendaJonesHarden,LauraJimenezParra,
andMelissaDuchene-Kelly
15 WorkforceDevelopmentStrategiestoAddressRacial
DisproportionalityandDisparitiesinChildWelfareSystems. . . . . 285
AnitaP.BarbeeandBeckyF.Antle
16 FamilyMeetingsasaSystemReformtoAddressRacial
DisproportionalityandDisparities. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. 309
HeatherAllan,MaryElizabethRauktis,JoanPennell,
LisaMerkel-Holguin,andDavidCrampton
Contents vii
17 RacialDisparitiesinChildWelfare:ADecision-MakingEcology
View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
JohnD.Fluke,DonaldJ.Baumann,LenI.Dalgleish,
andHomerD.Kern
18 SeekingRacialEquityintheDependencyCourt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
JesseRussell
19 TheInstitutionalAnalysis:AToolforDiagnosingStructural
ContributorstoRacialDisproportionalityandDisparityin
ChildWelfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
KristenWeberandSarahMorrison
20 CreatingComprehensiveSystemReformtoReduceRacial
DisproportionalityandDisparities:TheTexasCommunity
EngagementModel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
JoyceJames,DonaldJ.Baumann,CarolyneRodriguez,SheilaCraig,
andStephanieKathan
21 LegislativeSolutionstoAddressRacialDisproportionality
andDisparities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
JessicaDixonWeaver
PartV Conclusion
22 TowardsanAnti-RacistChildWelfareFuture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
AlanJ.DettlaffandReikoBoyd
Part I
Understanding and Identifying Racial
Disproportionality and Disparities
Chapter 1
Introduction to Racial Disproportionality
and Disparities in Child Welfare
AlanJ.Dettlaff
1.1 Introduction
Theoverrepresentationofchildrenofcolorinthechildwelfaresystemhaslongbeen
identifiedasaconcerninthefieldofchildwelfare.Commonlyreferredtoasracial
disproportionality,thisphenomenonhasmostsignificantlyimpactedBlackchildren,
withnationaldataindicatingthatBlackchildrenrepresent23%ofchildreninfoster
care,althoughtheyrepresentonly14%ofchildreninthegeneralpopulation(KIDS
CountDataCenter,2019;UnitedStatesDepartmentofHealthandHumanServices,
2019). This overrepresentation of Black children has been observed in the child
welfaresystemformorethan50years(Billingsley&Giovannoni,1972),yetpersists
as a national problem. While the national dialogue has focused largely on the
overrepresentation of Black children, racial disproportionality has also been
observed among Native American and Latinx children, although to a lesser degree
andwithvariationsbystate.
Racial disproportionality among children in foster care results from racial dis-
parities that occur along the child welfare service pathway. Beginning with the
initial report of alleged maltreatment, children who are subjects of these reports
become involved in a process in which multiple decisions are made that affect the
likelihoodoftheirentryintoandexitfromfostercare.Thesedecisionsaremadenot
only by child welfare caseworkers, but also by supervisors, agency administrators,
familycourtjudges,andotherlegalprofessionals,aswellasprofessionalsexternalto
the child welfare system and the general public. At each of these decision-making
points, there exists the potential for disparities to occur that differentially impact
children of color. Ultimately, racial disparities that occur in both entries into the
systemandexitsfromthesystemproduceracialdisproportionality.
A.J.Dettlaff(*)
UniversityofHouston,Houston,TX,USA
e-mail:[email protected]
©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2021 3
A.J.Dettlaff(ed.),RacialDisproportionalityandDisparitiesintheChildWelfare
System,ChildMaltreatment11,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54314-3_1