African Tribes

Afar Anlo-Ewe Amhara

Ashanti Bakongo Bambara

Bemba Berber Bobo Bushmen/San Chewa Dogon

Fang Fon Fulani Ibos Kikuyu

Maasai Mandinka Pygmies Samburu Senufo Tuareg Wolof Yoruba Zulu

The African Family♦ Collectively Thinking People:

Village, Amass, Accumulative,

Concentrate, Congregate,

Assemble, Flock, Gather

It takes a village to raise a child.

Blended Families made one family.

Unity

The African Family

♦ Our families consist of Grandmother, Grandfather, Uncle (if single), Auntie (if single), Mother, Father, children, and community. That was the collectively thinking we shared in times pass. That was the nucleus of the African family.

The African American Family the Creation of Separatism ♦ During the seventeenth century,

slaves had little opportunity to establish family units. Newly imported African slaves were often kept in sex-segregated quarters. In the Chesapeake colonies and the Carolinas, most slaves lived on plantations with fewer than ten slaves. These units were so small and so widely dispersed, and the sex ratio was so skewed (two women for three men) that it was difficult for slave men and women to find spouse of roughly the same age.

The African American Family the Creation of Separatism♦ A high death rate

compounded the difficulties slaves faced in forming families, since many slaves did not live long enough to marry or, if they did, their marriages were brief

The African American Family the Creation of Separatism♦ By the 1770s, slaves had

succeeded in creating a distinctive African American system of family and kinship. To sustain a sense of family identity, slave children were often named from parent or other blood kin or given a traditional African name.

♦ The major reasons why slaves fled their masters’ plantations was to visit spouses, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

The African American Family the Creation of Separatism♦ 1950s, African American

culture places greater emphasis on ties to a network of kin that can extend over more than one household. Extended kin such as the grandparents, parents, and children who provide and to receive more help from each other. They also live together more often about half of all middle-aged African American women, live in a three-generation household at some point.

Daniel Patrick MoynihanThe Negro Family: The Case For National Action (1965)♦ Produced as part of LBJ’s war

on poverty

♦ “At the heart of the deterioration

of the fabric of Negro society is

the deterioration of the Negro

family”

♦ Argued patterns observed by

Frazier were growing and would

not stop without intervention

♦ Advocated coordinated government programs to strengthen black family

Moynihan Report Controversies

Moynihan had it backwards: ♦ single parenthood was the

consequence of poverty, not the cause of it.

♦ Moynihan ignored the strength and resilience of the black family, and denigrated black culture

♦ Dozens of historical studies argued that black families in the nineteenth century were male-headed, nuclear, just like white families

No marriage boom for black men♦ After the war, blacks were forced

off southern farms by mechanization and consolidation of sharecropping farms.

♦ This resulted in massive dislocation and a rise of young men with no occupation.

♦ Without the shift from farming into no occupation, there would have been a substantial black post-war marriage boom.

♦ There was no marriage boom for blacks because there was no economic boom for blacks.

The African American Family the Creation of SeparatismShifts in the approach to societal

problems during the twentieth century

helped to shape child welfare policies.

Roberts explains in Shattered Bonds,

“by the early twentieth century,

rescuing children from maltreatment

by removing them from their homes

was part of a broader campaign to

remedy social ills, including poverty.

This movement created the juvenile

courts, opposed child labor, lobbied

for mandatory school attendance laws,

and established pensions for widows

and single mothers to reduce the need

for child removal. It judged poor

families by an elitist standard and

ignored black children altogether Roberts

(2002b:14).

The African American Family the Creation of SeparatismRoberts goes on to explain that the

“early reformers tied children’s

welfare to social conditions that could

only be improved through societal

reforms. This movement ended in the

1970s, with the emergence of a new

emphasis on disassociating unpopular

poverty programs from the problem of

child abuse. The intent was to show

that abuse was a problem for all of

America, not just for those in poverty

Roberts (2002b:14).

The African American Family the Creation of SeparatismThis change created a focus on saving the

child, while the family was de-emphasized

as a factor in helping children. The rules

governing the administration of welfare

programs became more restrictive, with

regulations designed to change behavior.

Systemic and individual bias inherent in

policies and procedures ensured the

removal of children from their families

instead of offering supports for children

while they remained with their own

families. At the same time, the visibility

of the impoverished and specifically

minority families became more

pronounced Roberts (2002b:14).

The African American Family the Creation of SeparatismThe investigation and substantiation processes utilize certain

assessment protocols, investigative requirements an

procedures, and methodologies to confirm the actions taken

or rationale for the exclusions. There is evidence suggesting

that race plays a role at the investigation decision point. As

reported by Hill, Sedlak and Shultz’s 2001 reanalysis of

National Institutes Health (NIH-3) data found “higher rates of

investigations for Africa Americans than Caucasians:

(a) among children who were emotionally maltreated or,

physically neglected;

(b) among children who suffered serious or

fatal injuries;

(c) when reports came from mental health or

social service professionals; and

(d) when the parents were

substance abusers Hill (2001: 5).

The African American Family the Creation of SeparatismAlso, even though data from the National Incidence Studies (NIS) of Child Abuse

and Neglect have consistently indicated that there is no significant racial

difference in the overall incidence of abuse and neglect between minority and

white children, the data do indicate disparities in investigations of child

abuse and neglect:♦ African American children who were emotionally maltreated or physically neglected

were much more likely to be investigated than white children similarly maltreated.

♦ African American children who suffered fatal or serious injury were much more likely to receive CPS[Child Protective Services] investigation than white children with comparable severe injuries.

♦ African American children whose maltreatment was recognized by mental health or social service professionals were more likely to be investigated than comparable white children.

♦ African American children whose perpetrator was involved with alcohol or drugs were much more likely to receive CPS investigation Sedlak and Schultz (2005: 114 -115) .

I believe that every African American child has a purpose, a “gift to offer

the world.” However, in America’s society the dangerous outcomes of

childbirth are insufficient or imaginary health care, poverty, lack of proper

food or education for nourishment. In addition, poor housing conditions,

juvenile systems, and the most dangerous “The Child Welfare System.”

While African American children make up about one-fifth of the children in

this country, research indicates that they make up two-fifths of the children

in the child welfare system (Roberts 2002a: 3). Children of color are more

likely to be detached from their parents, the family unit and the community

they are familiar, placed in out-of-home, institutions group homes and out-

of- state care. They also are more likely to remain in care for longer periods

than Caucasian children are. In addition, to all the other affiliations of being

an African American child the chances of the survival during the early years

makes the child turn against his/her self.

.

Public Policies and Practices in Child

Welfare Systems that Affect Life Options

for Children of Color

ERNESTINE F. JONES

Micro-Mezzo, Macro Intervention

♦ The Wraparound approach

♦ Realize that African Americans have different communication styles.

♦ Appreciate the diversity of family types among African Americans

♦ Encourage political advocacy/Community Organizing

References♦ Dhooper S. and Moore S. (2001: 99-103) Social Work Practice with Cuturally Diverse People. Sage

Publication, Inc.

♦ Hill, R. 2001. Disproportionality of Minorities in Child Welfare: Synthesis

of Research Findings. Paper prepared for Race Matters Consortium.

http://www.racemattersconsortium.org/docs/whopaper4.pdf.

♦ Roberts, D. E. 2002a. Racial Disproportionality in the U. S. Child

Welfare System (Working Paper #4): Documentation, Research on Causes,

and Promising Practices. Northwestern University School of Law,

Institute for Policy Research (August).

♦ Roberts, D. E. 2002b. Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare.

New York: Basic Books/Civitas.

♦ Sedlak, A., and D. Schultz. 2005. Race Matters in Child Welfare: Race

Differences in Child Protective Services Investigation of Abused and Neglected

Children. CWLA Press.

♦ University of Minnesota Population Center African-American Families

http://ipums.org