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ABOUT THE ALLIANCE
In 2004, the Casey-CSSP Alliance for
Racial Equity in Child Welfare was established to develop and
implement a national, multiyear campaign to address racial
disparities and reduce the disproportionate representation of
children from certain racial or ethnic communities in the
nation’s child welfare system.
The Alliance includes the Annie E.
Casey Foundation and its direct service agency, Casey Family
Services, Casey Family Programs, the Jim Casey Youth
Opportunities Initiative, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the
Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), and parents and
alumni of foster care. The Race Matters Consortium and Black
Administrators in Child Welfare (BACW) are also partners in this
work.
The efforts of the Alliance to reduce disparities and the
disproportionate number of children of color n the care of child
welfare agencies are ultimately aimed at improving outcomes for
all children by: (1) learning what works to achieve race equity
in child welfare services, in partnership with states and local
communities; (2) developing and disseminating new knowledge to
the field; (3) promoting effective federal and state policy
through education about policy options; (4) designing and
implementing data collection, research, and evaluation methods
that document evidence-based practices and strategies; and (5)
ensuring that birth parents and foster youth and alumni are
leaders in helping child welfare agencies achieve race equity in
child welfare services and programs.
WHAT PRODUCTS AND
RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE?
Several resources are available
through this website to help raise public awareness about the
severity of disproportionality and disparity in child welfare
and to better assist youth, parents, policy makers and child
welfare administrators in their efforts to address it:
- Fact Sheet #1: Basic Facts on Disproportionate Representation of African Americans in the Foster Care System
 29 KB,
- Fact Sheet #2: State-by-State Profile on Racial Overrepresentation in Foster Care
22 KB,
- Structural Racism in Child Welfare Action Card
149 KB
- Recommendations for Federal Policy
22 KB
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
During the National Black Child
Development Institute’s National Conference in October 2006, the
Alliance released two publications that are designed to provide
much needed information to the child welfare field about the
issues of disproportionality, inequitable services for minority
children and families and emerging efforts to address them.
1.
The first is a paper by Robert B. Hill, Ph. D., Senior
Researcher, Westat, entitled, “Synthesis of Research on
Disproportionality in Child Welfare: An Update.” This paper
summarizes current research findings on racial
disproportionality and disparities in treatment and services
within the child welfare system, as well as, explores recent
patterns in child maltreatment and disproportionality, the role
race plays at various decision-making stages in child welfare,
the extent of racially disparate treatment in child welfare, and
how other social systems contribute to disproportionality in
child welfare."Synthesis of Research on Disproportionality in Child Welfare:
An Update."
2. The second is a paper
based upon a recent field study conducted by Ernestine Jones,
entitled “Places to Watch: Promising Practices to Address Racial
Disproportionality in Child Welfare Services.” This paper
provides some helpful insights into what several state and local
child welfare agencies are actually doing to address the problem
of racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparity within
their respective jurisdictions.
"Places to Watch: Promising Practices to Address Racial
Disproportionality in Child Welfare Services
An additional publication has been prepared for release in
December 2007, to further advance the knowledge for the field on
this topic.
3.
It is another paper by Robert B. Hill, Ph. D. entitled, “An
Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality and Disparity
at the National, State and County Levels. This study expands
the knowledge about racial and ethnic disproportionality and
disparity at the national, state and county levels for the field
of child welfare, using two national data sets, the National
Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and the Adoption
and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), to
examine the participation of Native American/American Indians,
Asian Americans/Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Blacks,
Hispanics and Whites at three decision-making points: child
protection investigations, substantiated investigations, and
placement into foster care.
“An Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality and
Disparity at the National, State and County
Levels
FUNDERS AND PARTNERS
Current funding
to support the Casey-CSSP Alliance for Racial Equity in Child
Welfare (Alliance) comes from the Annie E. Casey Foundation (www.aecf.org),
Casey Family Programs (www.casey.org) and
the Marguerite Casey Foundation (www.caseygrants.org).
The Alliance
consists of civic leaders, philanthropic foundations, child
welfare administrators and organizations, advocates, parents,
youths and family court judges that include the following
partners:
For More
Information, Contact:
Khatib A.F. Waheed, Senior Fellow, CSSP
Email:
khatib.waheed@cssp.org
Telephone: 202-371-1565 or 314-721-0557
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