A case study in public child welfare: county-level practices that address racial disparity in foster care placement |
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| Authors: | Jessica Pryce Wonhyung Lee Elizabeth Crowe Daejun Park Mary McCarthy Greg Owens |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Social Work Education Consortium, University at Albany-State University of New York, Albany, USA;2. School of Social Welfare, University of Albany, Albany, USA;3. New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Child Welfare, Renssealaer, New York, USA |
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| Abstract: | Racial disproportionality has been a longstanding issue within child welfare. The continued overrepresentation of black children in the foster care system is troubling. The authors of this article conducted a case study of two counties in New York State that have steadily decreased the number of black children in foster care in an effort to identify what aspects of their child welfare practice impacted the decline. The case study employed document analysis, in-depth interviews, and focus groups with child removal decision makers. Utilizing a grounded theory approach to content organization and analysis, several themes emerged as noticeable factors. Some of the most salient themes included preventive services and resources, community collaborations, case practice development, family meetings, workforce diversity, the court system, and, the most unique, blind removal meetings. The themes found in this study present promising practices to assist in decreasing the racial disparity in child welfare removal decisions. |
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| Keywords: | Racial disparity child welfare foster care implicit bias racial disproportionality |
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