Report on Reasons Behind Disproportionate Number of Blacks in Foster
Care Due Next Month
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/fostercare516
Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2007
By: ackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com
A long awaited investigation into the causes behind the disproportionate
representation of blacks and other children of color in the foster care
system is scheduled to be released in late June, according to the
Government Accountability Office, which is conducting the probe.
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) asked the GAO in September 2005 to
investigate the causes of disproportionate placement and to recommend
solutions following a report from the Congressional Research Office,
which showed that black and American Indian children were about twice as
likely to be among the children entering the foster care system than
their overall presence in the general population.
According to that report, theories about racial disproportion in the
child welfare system suggest that children of color are more likely to
be poor or from single parent homes, which are considered risk factors
for maltreatment; that they come into contact more often with social
services officials who are likely to report such mistreatment; that
biased assumptions likely spur social service employees to report
children of color to child protective services, and that children of
color have less access to preventive services or conditions that promote
permanent placement.
However, the National Incidence Survey, which collects data to measure
the mistreatment of children, including incidents not reported to Child
Protective Services, have consistently found no link between race and
the incident of maltreatment in the general population. National studies
show there is no significant difference across racial lines for the
number of children who are subjected to abuse and neglect.
In an interview last year with BlackAmericaWeb.com, Ralph Bayard,
director of diversity for Casey Family Programs, said that black
families do tend to be somewhat poorer, which may make them more visible
to the welfare system, but there is no clear explanation for the widely
disproportionate number of black children in foster care.
“If poverty was the only factor,” Bayard told BlackAmericaWeb at the
time, “you’d have more white children” in the system because in raw
numbers, there are more poor white children than black ones.
More than 800,000 children come through the foster care system annually,
and at any point during the year, there can be as many as a half million
children in care. Black children represent 38 to 42 percent of the
placements, more than double their presence in the general population.
Casey Family Programs developed The Breakthrough Series Collaborative, a
pilot program to test ways of reducing the overrepresentation of
children of color in foster care. Thirteen jurisdictions across the
country were recruited to test ideas, strategies and tools to determine
what can change or improve care of service delivery to children in the
foster care system.
Lyman Legters, director of the Seattle field office for Casey Family
Programs and a leader of the King County Coalition on
Disproportionality, said a number of efforts have shown some success
anecdotally, but the process of developing measurable statistical data
was ongoing.
“We don’t have any empirical data,” Legters said. “We are in the process
of developing a model for the evaluation of disproportionate data in our
county.”
Additionally, Legters told BlackAmericaWeb.com, the state of Washington
passed legislation earlier this year requiring the state Department of
Social and Health services to analyze and come up with solutions,
statewide, on the disproportionate placement of children of color in
foster care.
The state of Michigan underwent a similar process in 2004. A report
released in March 2006, listed 11 recommendations and a timetable to
implement the changes.
Those recommendations revolved around “the redistribution of existing
funding so it is spread among the most vulnerable population, an
extensive review to see if we have institutional bias and establishing
monitoring local accountable teams to make sure the recommendations are
implemented and sustained,” said Gale Norman, the race equity
coordinator for the Michgian Department of Human Services.
Norman said a pilot program in a rural area of Saginaw County, Michigan
reviewed a half dozen family cases and found differences in the way
black families were treated compared to white families. A similar
program will be implemented in September in Wayne County, in which the
city of Detroit is located.
After the data are gathered, Norman told BlackAmericaWeb.com, the state
will look at institutional practices and employee training employees,
will identify “the policies and practices that occur at intake” and will
establish procedures to monitor the services families receive.
In addition, she said, the state will ask for a waiver in the pilot
counties of the way that federal money targeted for foster care could be
used for programs that help keep children at home with their families.
“The first couple of years, we collected data,” Norman said, “but until
we get into the actual case and go into the home, it’s difficult to tell
whether it’s institutional bias or racism on the part of the caseworker.
We’re looking at decision points, and that’s very telling” about the
quality of care children receive.
In King County, Washington, Legters said, three primary areas of
intervention where identified, ranging from cultural competence in
addressing issues for children of color, reviewing cases of children who
had been in the system for long periods of time without permanent
placement and placement planning within the court system.
The King County task force developed a program with graduate students in
social work at the University of Washington to work with social workers
and their supervisors in the foster care system to identify children who
have been in the system two years or more.
“In our Champions of Permanence Program, (master of social work)
students were mining files for kids who have been in foster care longer
than two years to look for permanent placement opportunities that might
have been missed,” Legters said. “Anecdotally, there was a good deal of
success that resulted in revised plans and actual relative placement for
a number of children.
“The other outcome was we had a cohort of 22 MSW students that got the
benefit of doing that work and … got hired in social work positions with
some of the agencies. It was not an intended outcome when we planned
this, but it worked out that way,” Legters said.
Legters said the task force is going to look at the coordination of a
wide array of systems involved in foster care to determine whether
efficiencies can be achieved there. It also will examine placements
within the court system to see if the process can be accelerated. It
will also look at cultural difference that may play a role in the
treatment of families.
In an earlier interview, Legters said many child welfare agencies are
normed for the majority population and do not address the lack of
cultural competence or the particular resources communities of color need.
Casey’s Indian Child Welfare unit participated in the Breakthrough
series, and cultural competency issues were immediately noticeable.
“There was tension between our Indian Welfare unit with the local CASA
in the initial meetings,” Legters said this week. “So we came up with a
plan to develop more Native American CASAS.”
He added that an "Undoing Racism" workshop focusing on the evolution of
institutional racism that task force members were required to attend
“wasn’t particularly relevant to the Native experience. It was useful,
but it didn’t resonate with the experiences of Indians, so we worked
with the Peoples Institute to focus on their distinct and unique
experiences.”
Asked if the release of the GAO report would assist this work, Legters
said, “Our regional team was interviewed by the GAO. We’re absolutely
watching that to see what the audit reveals. Casey Family Programs is
very interested in the outcomes of that report. We provided technical
assistance to congressman Rangel when he asked the question” about
disproportional representation.
While he has not had a sneak preview of the report, Legters said he
expected “that much of it is confirming what we already know. It’ll be
interesting to see if we have any deep, startling revelations.
“We already know that black children and children of color tend not to
do well in the foster care system, and it’s not because there’s anything
wrong with them, said Letgers. "It’s because there’s something wrong
with the system.”
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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