The child welfare field recognizes that youth of some racial and ethnic backgrounds are overrepresented in the US system. African American and American Indian children, for example, are overrepresented in out-of-home care compared to their representation in the general population, while Hispanic overrepresentation can be variable. Why does this happen? What are the consequences? How can it be prevented? This textbook seeks to answer these questions. Child welfare workers as well as practitioners of many social services, including health, education, and justice, can explore nuances within the far-reaching issue of disproportionality section by section. Chapters discuss racial disproportionality and outcome disparity, what happens to children who face these obstacles, and how child welfare can partner with other systems to build organizational and community-based supports to address disproportionality and reduce disparity.

This volume examines existing research documenting racial disproportionality and disparities in child welfare systems, the underlying factors that contribute to these phenomena and the harms that result at both the individual and community levels. It reviews multiple forms of interventions designed to prevent and reduce disproportionality, particularly in states and jurisdictions that have seen meaningful change. With contributions from authorities and leaders in the field, this volume serves as the authoritative volume on the complex issue of child maltreatment and child welfare. It offers a central source of information for students and practitioners who are seeking understanding on how structural and institutional racism can be addressed in public systems.

The number of children of color entering the child welfare system in the United States is disproportionately high. Not only are children of color removed from parental custody and placed in care more often than their white counterparts, but they also remain in care longer, receive fewer services, and have less contact with the caseworkers assigned to them. This book identifies the practice and policy changes required to successfully address the unequal treatment of children of color in the child welfare system and their implications for social work education, caseworker training, and institutional change. It critiques many of the existing social welfare acts and policies in terms of their treatment of children of color, and it provides best practices for each decision point in the child welfare process and for cultural competency measures and training. The text offers extensive measurement instruments that agencies can use to assess and correct institutional racism. To improve social work education, the book includes several model syllabi for the curriculum, and to deepen the discipline's engagement with the issue of institutional racism, the text concludes with a discussion of future directions for research and policy.

Within a historical and contemporary context, this book examines major policy practice and research issues as they jointly shape child welfare practice and its future. In addition to describing the major problems facing the field, the book highlights service innovations that have been developed in recent years. The resulting picture is encouraging, especially if certain major program reforms I are implemented and agencies are able to concentrate resources in a focused manner. The volume emphasizes families and children whose primary recourse to services has been through publicly funded child welfare agencies. The book considers historical areas of service—foster care and adoptions, in-home family-centered services, child-protective services, and residential services—where social work has an important role. Authors address the many fields of practice in which child and family services are provided or that involve substantial numbers of social work programs, such as services to adolescent parents, child mental health, education, and juvenile justice agencies. This new edition will continue to serve as a fundamen-tal introduction for new practitioners, as well as summary of recent developments for experienced practitioners.

Reorganized for more effective classroom use, the second edition of Critical Issues in Child Welfare begins with an updated, thorough overview of the challenges currently facing at-risk children and families. A description of the child welfare system highlights issues that are discussed in more detail throughout the book. The text explores protective services, family preservation, foster care and residential care, adoption, services for adolescents, and training and retention of staff. New material highlights the recent discoveries of the impact of early trauma and stress on children's development, and the modifications currently taking place in the child welfare system in response to this new information. The book also examines the critical challenges of poverty and substance abuse, the importance of the community in shaping child welfare services, racial disproportionality in the system, the changing response of the system to LGBT issues, and services to ameliorate the difficulties of youth leaving the system.

The issue of racial disproportionality in the child welfare system, particularly as it impacts African-American children and families, has long been a concern to practitioners and policymakers. However, disproportionality is not limited to the African-American community. Latino, Native-American, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander populations experience inequities in treatment. From leading voices on culturally-competent care comes a cutting-edge book that examines disproportionalities across all of these racial and ethnic groups. Eliminating Racial Disproportionality and Disparities examines a wide range of systems that often affect and interact with child welfare. Chapters are devoted to the juvenile justice system, mental health, the courts, education, and healthcare, making it the only book to offer a multisystemic approach to disparities and disproportionality. Filled with in-depth case studies, key terms, study questions, and resources, and written to reflect CSWE-mandated competencies, this expansive book gives students, educators, policymakers, practitioners, and administrators new knowledge for providing culturally competent services while simultaneously addressing disproportionality across various systems of care.

The relationship between poverty and child maltreatment has long been addressed in the literature. Disproportionally, children, especially those of color, are more likely to live in poverty than adults. It has been established that the risk of child maltreatment increases the longer impoverishment is experienced. Thus, the likelihood that racial disproportionality may have negative impact upon the child welfare system is potentially increased. Much attention has been given to the overrepresentation of certain children of color within the child welfare system when cared to their representation within the general population. This study explores the intersection of poverty and race upon child maltreatment through the lens of economically disadvantaged families of various racial backgrounds. Implementing a phenomenological approach, focus groups were conducted with economically disadvantaged families sharing their first-hand experiences of parenting with limited means and their views on the intersection of poverty, race, and child maltreatment. The findings point to three primary areas: (1) The strain of managing life with inadequate financial means results in significant strain on poor families; (2) In spite of the ongoing challenges, poor parents exert great efforts to care for their children; and (3) Adding to their challenges, poor families face additional stressors when having to engage with either the public welfare or child welfare systems. Results further indicate six underlying issues adding to the stressors of living in poverty: (1) Challenges of single parenting; (2) Impact of race and racism on poor families of color; (3) Impact of limited funding and other resources within the community; (4) Living with mental health and disabilities; (5) A constant fear of child welfare intervention; and (6) Biased and inconsistent practices within the public welfare and child welfare systems. Finally findings suggest a negative impact to racial disproportionality when child welfare fails to properly understand how to best serve poor families of color.