Established in 2004, the Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare is a national, decade-long campaign to address racial and ethnic disparities within the U.S. child welfare system. CSSP has been the managing partner for the Alliance.

The Alliance’s aim is to improve outcomes for children and families of color who receive child welfare services. To achieve this goal, the Alliance works to safely reduce the disparate services, resources and outcomes for children and families of color, as well as other families, whose lives are touched by child welfare agencies through child welfare policy, practice and programs.  The overall goal is to ensure that all children receive high quality child welfare services and achieve safety, permanence and well-being.

With partners across the country, the Alliance works to:
1) Promote national dialogue and accountability by contributing to a growing awareness at the state and national level about the unequal treatment for children of color in the child welfare system. For example:

• With input from the Alliance, the federal government issued a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report describing additional resources needed to create a racially equitable child welfare system for African-American children and families.
• Four jurisdictions working closely with the Alliance have begun to show decreases in disparities for children of color in their child welfare systems due in part to new data tracking systems and partnerships.
• Family and juvenile courts across the country have participated in training on structural racism and the role it can play in producing racial disparities in child welfare systems.
• The Alliance convened a national research symposium to review and discuss the current state of research on racial disproportionality and disparate outcomes in child welfare. The Alliance is currently preparing a related synthesis based on the symposium proceedings and related discussions.

2) Identify effective child welfare practices and programs that improve outcomes for children of color. The Alliance has a national network with more than 20 states and localities represented in regular conference calls and webinars on topics geared toward increasing knowledge about and action to eliminate racial disparities.

As the Alliance’s managing partner, CSSP provides learning opportunities, technical assistance and other tools that help administrators and policymakers use high-quality research and evidence-based practices to craft policies, programs and practices that will make measurable differences. These resources include:   

• Building on the success of the Race Matters Toolkit (developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation), the Alliance has developed a forthcoming set of tools entitled Race Matters in Child Welfare Toolkit. This resource is designed to support child welfare professionals in developing effective place-based strategies for reducing and eliminating disparities for children and families of color involved in the child welfare system.
• PolicyForResults.org - Guidance for child welfare administrators and policymakers on achieving racial equity. This website offers examples of effective policies, programs and practices used by states, as well as state-by-state data. It also has tools to address disparities. 
• State Network Teleconference Series - A forum to discuss new research, policies, evidence-based programs and practices. These twice monthly teleconferences are open to the public. Stay tuned for information on upcoming calls.

In addition to CSSP, other Alliance partners include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Services, Casey Family Programs, the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the Race Matters Consortium, Black Administrators in Child Welfare and parents and alumni of foster care.

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