Children of Color in the Child Welfare System: Perspectives from the Child Welfare Community

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Children of Color in the Child Welfare System: Perspectives from the Child Welfare Community
Year Published: 2003

http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/otherpubs/children/index.cfm

Responding to concerns about the over-representation of minority children in the child welfare system, particularly African-American children, the Children's Bureau sponsored an exploratory qualitative study of the child welfare system's response to children of color. The project was intended to gain insight into the issue of over-representation (or racial disproportionality) from the perspective of the child welfare community, including agency administrators, supervisors, and direct service workers, and to describe the strategies child welfare and child-welfare serving agencies use to meet the needs of children and families of color in the child welfare system. The project team conducted site visits to child welfare agencies to talk with agency administrators, supervisors, and workers, among others, regarding the issue of over-representation, and to find out more about the types of programs, practices, and strategies that are being implemented to meet the needs of children and families of color, particularly African-American children and families. Nine sites were selected for participation, including: one agency each in Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, California, North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas, and two agencies in Minnesota. Participants were asked to describe their own general perceptions of the issue of overrepresentation, the types of policies, procedures or practices they thought would enable their agency to better serve children and families of color, and their own agencies' ongoing programs and policies that address the needs of children and families of color. Across all sites, an overwhelming majority of participants at all levels cited poverty, and poverty-related circumstances, as primary reasons for the over-representation of minority children in the child welfare system. In terms of directions for change, the overwhelming emphasis among participants was for agencies to focus on prevention and provide more front-end or prevention programs and services to families. Current efforts of agencies to serve children of color included prevention programs, recruitment of minority foster and adoptive families, systems reform, collaboration and contracted services, developing councils on over-representation, and focusing on agency practices, including implementing practices related to training and supervision of staff and hiring a diverse staff to better represent the population. A literature review, implications for policy and practice, and recommendations for future research are provided. 111 references. (Author abstract modified)

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Author(s)

United States. Children's Bureau.

Chibnall, Susan.;Dutch, Nicole M.;Jones-Harden, Brenda.;Brown, Annie.;Gourdine, Ruby.

Year Published

2003

Acknowledgements

This report Children of Color in the Child Welfare System: Perspectives from the Child Welfare Community is the culmination of a three-year collaboration between the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Children's Bureau, Caliber Associates and Howard University School of Social Work. It represents the joint efforts of many individuals whose commitment to this project and, more specifically, to the safety, permanency, and well being of children and families nationwide we gratefully acknowledge.

We would first like to thank Dr. Mary Bruce Webb at ACF whose expertise, support, and calm manner helped guide and reassure the team throughout this project. We also must thank Dr. Janet Griffith at Caliber Associates for her input, feedback and keen sense of humor, all of which helped move this project along. In addition, we must thank our consultant team, Clarice Walker, Gretchen Test, Mark Testa and Jestina Richardson, whose advice and expertise helped to shape this project. We must extend a special thank you to Carol Wilson Spigner who, in addition to serving on the consultant team, dared to dream that such a project was possible.

Finally, we must acknowledge the child welfare and partner agencies nationwide that participated in this study with us. This project would not have been possible without their enthusiasm, commitment, and full participation. The dedication of all of the individuals with whom we spoke was both admirable and inspiring, to us all. We only hope this report accurately portrays the experiences and dedication of these individuals and their commitment to serving vulnerable children nationwide.

To all the dedicated individuals who do this important work every day; we give you special thanks.

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