CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Ethnic/Racial Disproportionality and Disparity: A National Perspective Barbara

CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley

Ethnic/Racial Disproportionality and Disparity:

A National Perspective

Barbara Needell, MSW, PhDCenter for Social Services ResearchUniversity of California at Berkeley

New York, NYOctober 16, 2007

The Performance Indicators Project at CSSR is supported by the California Department of Social Services and the Stuart Foundation

Presentation developed by Emily Putnam-Hornstein, MSW


National Efforts:

• Casey Alliance/CSSP • GAO Report • APHSA/NAPCWA Workgroup• CFP Breakthru Series• AECF Race Matters Toolkit• California Disproportionality Project• Other state efforts

STRATEGY: Leverage resources, expertise & experience to bring about change:

1. Legislation, policy change and finance reform

2. Research, evaluation & data-based decision-making

3. Youth, parent & community partnership

4. Public will and communication

5. Human service workforce development

6. Practice change (site-based implementation)

Casey-CSSP Alliance for Racial Equity

GOAL: “to significantly reduce racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparity in jurisdictions agreeing to partner with the Alliance by 2015…”

WORK TO DATE: Research commissioned, partnerships with multiple jurisdictions, dissemination of report findings, publication of assessment tools, etc.

Family Court Judges

Youth

Parents

Advocates

Foundations

Child Welfare Organizations

Civic Leaders

Casey Family Foundations

Alliance


2007 GAO Report

• Report recommendations:– Matters for Congressional Consideration

• “…Congress may wish to consider amending federal law to allow federal reimbursement for legal guardianship similar to that currently provided for adoption.”

– Recommendations for Executive Action • “…(encourage) states to regularly track state and local data on

the racial disproportionality of children in foster care and use these data to develop strategies…”

• “…encourage states to make increased use of HHS's National Resource Centers as a source of technical assistance on this issue.”

• “…further assist states in understanding the nature and extent of disproportionality…actions should include completing and making publicly available information on disproportionality that the agency is developing under its Culturally Competent Practice Knowledge Initiative…


APHSA/NAPCWA Workgroup

System

Individual

Societal

Strategy

Culture

Policy

Legal System

Communications

Training and Education

Resources

Practice

Economic Issues

Technology

People

Disproportionality and Organizational Assessment Tool

• Assess the current conditions that are contributing to disproportionality

• Understand these factors within three spheres of influence: societal, system, and individual

• Facilitate further exploration of these factors to effect change

Casey Family Programs: Breakthrough Series Collaborative

Vision: Child welfare systems that are free of structural racism and benefit all

children, families & communitiesGuiding

AssumptionsMultiple disadvantages:

social, political, economic, attitudinal

Factors include: poverty, racism, organizational culture, service strategies, and resources

No significant differences in rates of child maltreatment (suggesting influence of race in institutional response and decision making)

Framework for Change

Identify key areas where reducing and ultimately eliminating racial disparities through policy, programming, practice and training are likely

Adopt principles to guide action rather than adopting prescriptive approaches

Framework Components

Create supportive agency mission

Develop cross-system leadership

Support families in context

Improve community capacity

Educate staff and stakeholders

Design culturally sensitive services

Use and share Data

Race Matters: Toolkit ContentsTOOL USUAL APPROACH RACE MATTERS

APPROACH

What’s Race Got to Do With It

Across the board aggregated data or quick assumptions on the basis of simple disaggregation

Data are always disaggregated by race and deeply analyzed

Fact Sheets Typical focus for disparities is on the individual

Focus on structural explanations for racial disparities

How to Talk About Race Sometimes divisive, too often rhetorical, and usually individually focused messages

Leading with values that unite instead of divide; bundling solutions with problem descriptions; leading with structural and embedded issues

Racial Equity Impact Analysis

Pursuit of generic, across-the-board outcomes

Pursuit of racially equitable outcomes

System Reform & Community Building Strategies

Color-blind approach Race-informed approach

Organizational Self-Assessment

Good people with good intentions is all that’s needed

Assessing staff capacity to do work that uses an embedded racial inequities lens & organizational operations that model equity

California Disproportionality Project

California Disproportionality

Project

Casey Family Programs (CFP)

Annie E. Casey Foundation

(AECF)

CA Dept. of Social Services (CDSS)

CA Social Work Ed. Council (CalSWEC)

Child & Family Policy Institute

(CFPIC)

State Interagency Workgroup

Center for Social Services Research

(CSSR)

2003 Training

Symposium

Meeting to discuss project…decide on a “Breakthrough

Series Collaborative

Model”

Proposal to Casey Alliance

for Racial Equity

Agreement to fund a California

effort using system

improvement funds

Project connected to State

Interagency Team’s Workgroup

to ensure statewide

involvement/impact

Technical consultation…

Interviews and meetings with

California stakeholders to

develop Framework and Self-Assessment

rating tool

Pilot testing in Pomona/LA and

Fresno

Planning team to finalize

Framework, rating tool, and scope of

project (November 2007)

Hire staff, engage

counties, formal and informal system

partners, and begin work! (Early 2008)

CA Disproportionality Project & Family to Family:

Rating ToolStrategic Elements:

1. Building Authentic Tribal and Community Partnerships 2. Collecting and Using Data3. Raising Awareness and Providing Training4. Leading by Example5. Engaging Birth Families and Youth as Authentic Partners6. Engaging the Broader Child Welfare System7. Preventing, Diverting, and Ensuring Equity for Child Welfare

Involvement8. Achieving Practice and Decision-Making that Does Not Result in

Racial Disproportionality and Disparities9. Ensuring Least Restrictive, Appropriate, and Supported

Placements10. Hiring, Promoting, and Supporting Staff


A sampling of state efforts over the last few years…

• Minnesota:– Legislative mandate to study why African American children in Minnesota

are disproportionately represented in out-of-home placements

• Michigan:– State commissioned task force to study the disproportionate representation

of African-American and other children of color in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems

• Texas:– Mandate that the Department of Family and Protective Services analyze

data regarding child removals and other enforcement actions to determine whether actions were disproportionately initiated against any racial or ethnic group.

• Florida:– Lawmakers enacted the “One Church, One Child of Florida Corporation Act”

to utilize the resources of Black churches to expedite the adoption of

adoptable Black children out of Florida’s foster care system.


Definitions…

• Disproportionality: when a group makes up a proportion of those experiencing some event that is higher or lower than that group’s proportion of the population

• Disparity: a comparison of one group (e.g, regarding disproportionality, services, outcomes) to another group


2004 National Estimates:

Ethnicity and Path through the Child Welfare System (Missing Race & Multi-Race Children Excluded)

15.1

60.3

19.6

4.0 0.9

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Population

(71,501,374)

NativeAmerican

Asian/ PI

Hispanic

White

Black




15.125.6

60.3

54.6

19.6

4.0

17.3

1.20.9 1.3

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Population

(71,501,374)

Maltreated

(809,852)

NativeAmerican

Asian/ PI

Hispanic

White

Black


2004

National Estimates: Ethnicity and Path through the Child Welfare System

(Missing Race & Multi-Race Children Excluded)

15.125.6 28.5

60.3

54.6 49.6

19.6 18.3

4.0

17.3

1.2 1.20.9 1.3 2.4

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Population

(71,501,374)

Maltreated

(809,852)

Entering (284,287)

NativeAmerican

Asian/ PI

Hispanic

White

Black




15.125.6 28.5

36.3

60.3

54.6 49.642.7

19.6 18.3

4.0

17.3 17.9

1.2 1.2 0.90.9 1.3 2.4 2.1

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Population

(71,501,374)

Maltreated

(809,852)

Entering (284,287) I n Care (481,474)

NativeAmerican

Asian/ PI

Hispanic

White

Black


15.1

36.3

60.3

42.7

19.6

4.0

17.9

0.90.9 2.1

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Population

(71,501,374)

I n Care

(481,474)

NativeAmerican

Asian/ PI

Hispanic

White

Black

Black Disproportionality36.3%15.1%

= 2.4

2004

National Estimates: Disparity Index

White Disproportionality42.7%60.3%= 0.7

Disparity Index

2.40 0.70

= 3.4

Please note that the #’s shown above do not match the GAO disproportionality rates exactly due to minor rounding differences.


How do large states stack-up? It depends…


0.19

0.11

0.29

0.38

0.08

0.15

1.86

0.34

1.12

1.13

1.08

0.41

2.80

0.87

2.51

3.06

0.66

1.07

4.31

3.64

3.09

2.29

2.09

1.73

Black

NativeAmerican

Hispanic

Asian/PI

New York

1.00

Overrepresented

Illinois

California

United States

Texas

Florida

Underrepresented

2004

National Entry Data: Racial Disparity Indices

(group compared to white)


0.11

0.13

0.22

0.04

0.32

0.23

0.47

0.58

1.10

1.19

2.62

1.28

0.99

1.06

2.43

3.31

2.40

0.90

2.17

2.49

3.32

5.40

6.96

7.11

Black

NativeAmerican

Hispanic

Asian/PI

New York

1.00

Overrepresented

Illinois

California

United States

Texas

Florida

Underrepresented

2004

National In Care Data: Racial Disparity Indices

(group compared to white)


CSSR.BERKELEY.EDU/UCB_CHILDWELFARE

Needell, B., Webster, D., Armijo, M., Lee, S., Cuccaro-Alamin, S., Shaw, T., Dawson, W., Piccus, W., Magruder, J., Exel, M., Conley, A., Smith, J. , Dunn, A., Frerer, K., & Putnam Hornstein, E., (2007). Child Welfare Services Reports for California. Retrieved [month day, year], from University of California at Berkeley Center for Social Services Research website. URL: <http://cssr.berkeley.edu/UCB_CHILDWELFARE/>

Barbara [email protected]

510.642.1893510.290.6334 (pcs)

GO BEARS!!!!

Documents

CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Ethnic/Racial Disproportionality and Disparity: A National Perspective Barbara