race and child welfare

New York has become the 16th state to legalize recreational marijuana. And the new law makes clear that parents should not be judged for using it.

Current calls to eliminate all elements of structural racism in the United States include proposals to abolish child welfare services. Alan Dettlaff and Kristen Weber, in an op-ed published by The Imprint this summer, based their abolition argument on the idea that “the child welfare system causes harm to Black children and we have known this for decades.” 

Chapin Hall and Harvard Law School’s Child Advocacy Program co-sponsored an invitational conference in January 2011 addressing what has been generally characterized as racial disproportionality in child welfare. This issue brief reflects the research presented at the conference, including empirical work showing that actual black maltreatment rates are significantly higher than white rates.