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Disproportionate Minority Representation
A Statement About Children of Color in the Child Welfare System:
Overview, Vision, and Proposed Action Steps
The Issue
Children of color, belonging to various cultural, ethnic, and racial communities (primarily African/Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Native/Indigenous American), are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system and frequently experience disparate and inequitable service provision. The overrepresentation of children of color in child welfare and other social service systems (e.g., juvenile justice) is linked to social, class, and economic factors that must be addressed to ensure that the needs of all children are fairly and appropriately served. Federal, state, and local governments; the child welfare system; and the communities they serve must ensure that all children, regardless of their cultural, ethnic, or racial identity, receive services that address the full spectrum of their needs in a manner that reflects the cultural strengths of their families.
A preliminary review of the literature and an analysis of federal child abuse and neglect, foster care, and U.S. Census data for 2000, documents disproportionality but does not reveal outcome improvement:
- No significant or marginal race differences in the incidence of maltreatment were found either within the National Incidence Study (NIS)-3 data (1996) or in the comparison of change since the NIS-2 (1986).
- Research indicates that the average African American child is not at any greater risk for abuse and neglect than the average Caucasian child (Sedlak & Schultz, 2001; Ards, et. al., 1999).
- Nationally, African American and black children are dramatically overrepresented in the child welfare system. They are substantiated as abused or neglected at twice the rate of white children and are placed in foster care at four times the rate of white children (CWLA, 2003).
- American Indian/Alaska Native children are also dramatically overrepresented nationally. They are substantiated as abused or neglected at about twice the rate of white children. They are placed in foster care at a rate at least three times higher than that of white children, and likely even higher still, as not all tribes report tribal foster care data to the federal government (CWLA, 2003).
- Hispanic and Black/Non-Hispanic children are placed in relative/family foster homes at a rate 50% higher than white/Non-Hispanic children (NDAS Report, Calculations by CWLA).
- Nationally, Asian and Pacific Islander children are clearly underrepresented in the child welfare system. They are substantiated as abused and neglected and placed in foster care at half the rate of white children (CWLA, 2003).
- African American, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander children have a disproportionately higher rate of maltreatment investigations when compared to Whites (Fluke, et.al., 2002).
Clearly, the breadth and depth of this problem point to the need for additional collaborative efforts and further study of the factors that contribute to disproportionality and disparate policies and practices in the child welfare system.
VISION STATEMENT
Through its vision, philosophy, national framework, strategic plan, and other supporting literature, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) clearly articulates a firm commitment for the development and implementation of public policy and best practice initiatives that result in healthy children, families, and communities. Children, youth, and families are best served by policies and practices that meet the needs of children; provide comprehensive cross-systems services and programs; empower families; and are delivered with an understanding of and respect for their culture, values, and strengths.
Central to the vision set forth by CWLA is the recognition that all children and youth have five universal needs. For children and youth to be safe, healthy and thriving, these universal needs, which are closely interrelated, must be met. They are:
- The Basics: Equality, economic security and stability, nutrition, appropriate housing, health care, and education.
- Relationships: Nurturing relationships with parents, kin, other adults, siblings, and peers.
- Opportunities: Opportunities for affirmative connections to culture, traditions, and spiritual resources, development of talents and skills, and a positive transition to adulthood.
- Safety: Protection from discrimination; accidental injury or death; environmental toxins; and abuse, neglect, and violence at home, school, the streets, and the media.
- Healing: Appropriate response to trauma by family, friends, and professionals; effective long-term support; and services that are comprehensive, needs-based interventions.
Also inherent in the vision are a belief in strong communities and the need for more effective advocacy to ensure that appropriate resources are allocated to support family stability.
GOALS
CWLA and its members will strive to develop, promote, and implement policies, programs, and practices that result in significant and sustained reductions in the number of children of color who are inappropriately referred to and subsequently served by the child welfare system. All stakeholders in the child welfare system must work to eliminate disparate and unequal policies, programs, and practices that result in the disproportionate representation of children of color in care. For children whose safety and well-being require the intervention of the formal child welfare system, services and programs must emphasize prevention, early intervention, and cross-systems approaches to service delivery. CWLA envisions that the solutions developed as a result of its efforts will assist families (biological, kinship, foster, adoptive, or other family compositions) in receiving community-based, competent, and appropriate services and supports. When federal regulations require alternative placements be made, such placement decisions should reflect a strong commitment to enabling children to preserve their culture by living with their extended families and remaining in their communities whenever possible.
PRIORITY AREAS FOR ACTION
The following major areas require further review, analysis, and action by public and private child welfare and social service administrators, staff, researchers, advocates, youth, families, and their communities:
- The rates and type of maltreatment which children of varying ethnic groups are reported and/or substantiated as abused or neglected.
- The relationship between poverty, culture, individual racism, and institutional racism (within the system and in society as a whole).
- The lack of resources, protective factors, and community based supports as contributing factors.
- The decision-making process, beginning with case referral and intake, and its effects on children of color and their families.
- The path through the service system children of color "follow."
- The availability and equitable provision of family preservation and support services.
- The rate of placement of children of all cultural, racial and ethnic communities in foster and formal kinship arrangements.
- The manner in and rate at which children of color exit the system.
- The overrepresentation of children and families of color at all stages of the child welfare process.
ACTION STEPS
National data and case studies validate the need for CWLA, its members, governmental agencies, foundations, advocacy groups, and national organizations to assess, examine, and eliminate factors that contribute to the disproportionate representation of children of color in the child welfare system and the disparities in the services they receive. Asking and answering these questions about child welfare decision points, the intake process, and service provision will require research, collaboration, and additional resources. As action steps evolve towards the development of solutions and new approaches to this issue, we must engage not only social workers, but all those responsible for the well-being, education, and safety of children. And the action steps must be proactive in nature. While systems engage in debates about jurisdiction and decision-making, the needs of children, youth, families, and communities remain.
The following are some proposed initial action steps:
- Engage member agencies, allied organizations and nontraditional partners (i.e., Black Administrators in Child Welfare, National Family Heritage Coalition, National Academies of Sciences, National Indian Child Welfare Association, and National Council of Latino Executives) in ongoing dialogue to establish a common vision, shared goals, and an action agenda as it relates to the disproportionality of cultural, ethnic, and racial communities served by the child welfare system.
- CWLA will present relevant information, data, and research on its web site through the National Data Analysis System (NDAS).
- Consult with diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial communities and families to obtain their perspectives on existing challenges. Collaborate with these families and communities to develop potential solutions to disproportionate identification by, involvement in, and interventions by the formal child welfare system.
- Solicit CWLA member participation through advisory committees, councils, and task forces in the development of agency-specific, culturally competent, and responsive policies, services, practices, and supports that establish a foundation for healthy relationships, effective interventions, and positive outcomes for children and their families.
- Improve the child welfare system's responsiveness to workforce recruitment and retention issues that impact children and families involved with the system. Such issues include, but are not limited to:
- Recruiting and hiring staff from cultural and ethnic groups the agency serves.
- Specifying the need for cultural competence and responsiveness in all job descriptions and assessing these qualities in all performance evaluations.
- Establishing career advancement policies that provide opportunities for staff members from diverse groups to assume supervisory and management positions.
- At Children 2004, CWLA's 2004 national conference, provide a status report on work efforts, progress, and accomplishments made during 2003 regarding the treatment of children and families of color in the child welfare system.
SOURCES
- Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau, National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), Child Maltreatment 2000.
- Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau, National Incidence Study-3, Final Report, September 1996.
- Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report (AFCARS), Interim FY 2000. Estimates as of August 2002. (PDF File; Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
- Ards, S., Chung, C. and Myers, S. (1999). Letter to the editor. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23 (12).
- Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), National Data Analysis System (2003). Special data tabulation of 2000 AFCARS, 2000 NCANDS, and United States Census 2000.
- Fluke, J., Yuan, Y., Hedderson, J., and Curtis, P. (2002). Disproportionate Representation in Child Maltreatment. Paper presented at the Research Roundtable On Children of Color in Child Welfare. Washington, DC.
- Jewell Morgan, Linda, Spears, Linda S., and Kaplan, Caren (2003). Making Children a National Priority: A Framework for Community Action Monograph, Child Welfare League of America: Washington, DC.
- Sedlak, A., and Schultz, D. (2001). Race Differences in Risk of Maltreatment in the General Child Population. Paper presented at the Race Matters forum, January 8-9, 2001, Chevy Chase, MD. (Available at the Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1207 W. Oregon, Urbana, IL 68010).
- United States Department of Health and Human Services. (1988). Study findings: National study of incidence and prevalence of child abuse and neglect [DHHS Publication No. OHDS 20-01099]. Washington, DC: Author.
- United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect. (1996). The third national incidence study of child abuse and neglect. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2000 (120th edition) Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
For more on Disproportionate Minority Representation, please visit:
 Youth Law Center
- Building Blocks for Youth
- Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
- W. Haywood Burns Institute
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