Overrepresentation Of Black Children Research Articles

State policies on child maltreatment and racial disproportionality

Over the past several decades researchers have documented disproportionality for Black families across multiple decision-making points within the child welfare system. Yet, few studies have examined how specific state policies may impact disproportionality across decision points. The racial disproportionality index (RDI) was calculated for Black children in each state and Washington DC (N = 51) based on the proportion of children who were received a referral to CPS, a substantiated investigation, or entered foster care. A series of bivariate analyses (one-way ANOVAs; independent sample t-tests) were used to explore the relationship between the RDI and these decision points. Further analyses were conducted between the RDI and state policies (e.g., child maltreatment definitions, mandated reporting, and alternative response). Our results suggest there is an overrepresentation of Black children in CPS across the three decision points. This overrepresentation continues with specific state policies such as a state using harsh punishment in their definition of child maltreatment. Recommendations are provided for policy and research, including a suggestion for further exploration of state policies and county-level disproportionality indexes.

A 10-Year Systematic Review of Participant Diversity of Single-Case Studies Published in Two Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education Research Journals

The field of special education has made great strides in identifying interventions that work. These practices have been described as evidence-based because they were effective across numerous studies. However, scholars in the field are also acutely aware that not all evidence-based practices will be equally effective for all children. Because of this, we sought to gain a better understanding of just who participated in single-case research design studies published in two early childhood journals from 2011 through 2020. Demographics for 267 participants from 67 studies were coded and statistically compared with federal data. Results suggest an overrepresentation of male participants, an overrepresentation of Black children, an overrepresentation of children diagnosed with autism, and an underrepresentation of Hispanic/Latinx children.

Child protection agencies collaborating with grass-root community organizations: partnership or tokenism?

ABSTRACT Cross-sector collaborations are increasingly being relied upon to improve accessibility of prevention and support services for marginalized communities reported to the child protection system. However, little is known about the feasibility, implementation, and impact of such collaborations. This study begins to address this gap by describing the challenges faced by a child protection agency and community organization who partnered to reduce the overrepresentation of Black children reported to the child protection agency through implementation of a parenting support program. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with all members of a stakeholder committee, representing both the child protection agency and community organization. Critical race theory (CRT) informed the qualitative approach. Three major themes were identified demonstrating how the child protection agency’s organizational context, lack of socio-political support and organizational culture posed significant implementation challenges for the partnership. These findings raise important considerations for cross-sector collaborations aiming to reduce overrepresentation and racial disparity within child protection systems.

The Push for Racial Equity in Child Welfare: Can Blind Removals Reduce Disproportionality?

There have long been concerns regarding racial disproportionality in the U.S. child welfare system: Black children are represented in foster care systems at levels much higher than their numbers in the overall population. Calls for reform have grown louder in recent months, as the nationwide push to re-examine structural racism in institutions has reached the child welfare system. An increasingly popular reform seeks to reduce disproportionality by eliminating perceived implicit biases in the decisions of child welfare workers. This program, known as removals, works off of the following premise: if demographic information is unknown to professionals deciding whether or not to remove a child, then implicit biases will not impact foster care placement decisions. We conduct the first quantitative analysis of blind removals and derive two main findings. First, we show that the over-representation of Black children in most foster care systems is almost entirely driven by the fact that Black children are roughly two times more likely than White children to be investigated for child maltreatment to begin with. Conditional on initial rates of investigation, investigators remove White and Black children at similar rates. Specifically, we calculate that equalizing the removal probabilities of White and Black children would only reduce overall disproportionality by 4.5 percent. Thus, policies that target racial disparities in the removal decision have limited scope for impacting racial disproportionality in most foster care systems. Second, we find no evidence that blind removals had any effect on the already small racial disparities in the removal decision but they substantially increased time to removal. These findings yield an important insight for the multiple states and local child welfare agencies currently considering implementation of blind removals: the policy is not well-suited to reduce racial disproportionality in most foster care systems.

Overrepresentation of Black children in the child welfare system: A systematic review to understand and better act

• Overrepresentation of Black youth in CPS is persistent in Western societies. • Sociodemographic factors (e.g., race, SES) increase risk of overrepresentation. • Racial discrimination is the most reported factor associated with this overrepresentation. • Adoption of anti-oppressive and anti-racist practices may improve care. • Colleges and universities have a role to play in providing adequate antiracist training. The overrepresentation of Black children in child protection services has been reported continuously in Western societies, but remains poorly understood. This systematic review’s objective was: (1) to confirm or refute the existence of racial disparities and the overrepresentation of Black youth in child protection services in countries where Black communities constitute a minority; (2) to analyze the risk and protective factors associated with these observations. Our study confirmed the overrepresentation of Black youth and their disproportionate representation across stages of involvement with child welfare protection services. Two categories of factors: sociodemographic (gender, age, race and socioeconomic status) and racial discrimination (associated with referrals, investigations, and caregivers), were identified as contributing to these disparities. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

Black parents ask for a second look: Parenting under ‘White’ Child Protection rules in Canada

Where children grow up has a major impact on what they become as adults. Towards achieving what is optimal for one's children, parents across cultures carry out different parenting practices. Despite this, Black parents in Canada feel their parenting practices are unfairly targeted by Child Welfare Agencies (CWA), resulting in the overrepresentation of Black children in the welfare system. This study presents qualitative findings on Black parents' knowledge, perceptions, and experiences of navigating through complex Child protection rules and processes in Toronto, Canada. Results revealed that Black parenting experiences are shaped and influenced by cultural knowledge and perceived anti-Black racism in Canada, yet Child Welfare Agencies hardly consider this information in their engagements with Black families. Further, most participants had negative perceptions of Child Welfare Agencies as people who disunite families and racially target Black families. The study reifies that Child Welfare Agencies in Canada need to take necessary steps to understand the complex contexts of Black parenting in order to engage Black parents positively in the child protection process, perhaps enabling more Black children to remain at home safely. Even where removal (protective custody) is the preferred plan, Child Welfare agencies will develop strategies to make better use of the potentials that birth parents possess in order to enhance Black children's lives.

A birth cohort study of Asian and Pacific Islander children reported for abuse or neglect by maternal nativity and ethnic origin

Research identifying racial and ethnic disparities in child protective services (CPS) involvement in the U.S. has focused on the overrepresentation of Black children and the growing Latino child population. Little attention has been paid to children of Asian origin, the most underrepresented group of children in the U.S. CPS system. The objective of this analysis was to examine subgroup patterns of CPS involvement in California for Asian and Pacific Islander (API) children prospectively based on maternal nativity and ethnic origin. We extracted data for API children born in California in 2006 and 2007 (N=138,858) from population-based birth records and linked those records to CPS records spanning the first 5 years of life (through 2012). We assessed distributional differences in risk indicators for the full birth cohort of API children and calculated a summary risk variable representing the cumulative number of risks present at birth. Generalized linear models were used to estimate API children’s adjusted relative risk of CPS report by subgroup. Overall, 12.2% of children born in California in the 2006–2007 birth cohort were API. The majority of API children had foreign-born mothers (80.9%). Children of U.S.-born Hawaiian, Guamanian, or Samoan mothers had the highest rate, with 20.4% being reported to CPS by their 5th birthday. The lowest rates of child abuse and neglect reporting were observed among children of foreign-born Asian Indian (2.5%), Korean (2.7%), and Chinese (2.8%) mothers, compared to 5.4% of all Asian and Pacific Islander children, and 14.8% of children in general population. Findings underscore the presence of disparities in CPS involvement among API children, which has implications for health and well-being across the life course and for targeted maltreatment prevention strategies.

Child protection as surveillance of African American families

The over-representation of black children in US out of home care results from racial bias in placement decisions and a political choice to address startling rates of child poverty by investigating parents instead of tackling poverty's societal roots. The impact of state disruption and supervision of African American families is intensified when it is concentrated in inner-city neighbourhoods – the system's ‘racial geography.’ A small case study of a black neighbourhood in Chicago with high rates of out of home placement found profound effects on both family and community social relationships, as well as reliance on child protective services for financial assistance, linking surveillance of black families to the neoliberal shrinking of public programmes. The surveillance of African American women by the child welfare system is also intensified by these women's disproportionate involvement in the prison system. Acknowledging racial bias in child welfare reveals the need to radically transform the system from one that relies too much on punitive disruption of families to one that generously supports them.

Beyond Child Protection: Afro-Caribbean Service Users of Child Welfare

The literature on the overrepresentation of Black children in the child welfare system is well established, yet little is known about the experiences of Afro-Caribbean families as service users. This article draws on qualitative data from in-depth interviews with Afro-Caribbean mothers and youths to understand how they perceive and experience the child welfare system. The analyses were informed by the theoretical frameworks of critical race theory and critical race feminism. Findings indicate that Afro-Caribbean service users are caught in a complex institutional web of racism, classism, and sexism, which marginalizes and criminalizes them.

Kinship Care: Supporting Children in Placements with Extended Family and Friends

There is little written about children living in kinship care placements, either generally about the role and work of social services in supporting such placements or specifically about kinship care from carers' and users' perspectives. For a child in need who can no longer live with their birth parents(s), being supported by social services to live with a member of her or his extended family can be another appropriate placement option. Given that a good-sized proportion of looked after children, at least equivalent to those in residential care, are placed with a relative or friend, it is argued here that kinship care merits much more discussion, research and development than has hitherto been the case. Based on an ongoing research project, Bob Broad seeks to begin to redress this balance. After reviewing the kinship care literature, as well as the legislative and policy context, research findings from an ongoing research project are presented. The views of kinship carers are given, which suggest they value the support of social workers and require further support, financial payments, information and recognition from social services. Questions are also raised about the over-representation of black children in such placements.

Troubles in Interracial Talk About Discipline: An Examination of African American Child Rearing Narratives

The preference of African American parents for physical discipline is noted frequently in the literature, and it is suggested that this preference is responsible for the over representation of black children in foster care. Our research has found that African American parents in a social service intervention program clearly express this preference to their social workers, thereby further jeopardizing their chances of being judged fit parents. Studies of African American parenting styles show that there is a preference for physical discipline in combination with loving verbal reinforcement. This preference seems to represent a deep-seated set of cultural beliefs that cross many generations in the African American community. In spite of the importance of these claims, however, and the apparent cultural character of the preferences, there are relatively few studies of the African American use of physical discipline and none that report on the preference in any detail. This paper examines extended narrative accounts of why physical punishment is a preferred form of discipline in the African American community and how it is ideally to be used. Because the preference for physical discipline is thought to be a deep seated cultural form, and culture is often conveyed through narrative, we have paid careful attention to narrative in examining this preference.