ARTICLE TAG

Racial Bias

Kinship Care Prioritized Under New Washington State Law

4/26/2022

Kinship Care Prioritized Under New Washington State Law

Washington state will now prioritize keeping children with relatives when both parents lose custody, under a new law signed last month. 

New York’s Top Judge Resigns

2/22/2022

NY’s Chief Judge Calls for Streamlined Courts and Higher Pay for Child and Parent Lawyers

New York's Chief Judge Janet DiFiore recently called for a simplified court structure and higher pay for attorneys who represent children and low-income adults.

Stop Blaming the Uncooperative Mother

1/31/2022

Stop Blaming the Uncooperative Mother

The "uncooperative mother" has become a racial trope used by well-meaning people who work in the child welfare system, writes Karen Baynes-Dunning.

After Her Own Experience in Foster Care, Maleeka Jihad Works to Keep Families Intact

10/11/2021

After Her Own Experience in Foster Care, Maleeka Jihad Works to Keep Families Intact

After Maleeka Jihad, who goes by MJ, experienced the trauma of family separation in childhood, she decided to work to keep families intact.

6/10/2021

Illinois on Cusp of Bias Training Requirement for Mandated Child Welfare Reporters

Illinois teachers and others who look after children in a nonparental role may soon have to be taught how to recognize and eliminate their own racial and ethnic biases as mandated reporters of potential child abuse and neglect.

Parent Defender Wins Prestigious David Prize

10/19/2020

Racial Injustice in New York State Courts: Problems ‘Extensive and Systemic in Nature,’ Report Finds

A woman and child walk past the main entrance to the Bronx Family Court building. Photo: Hiram Alejandro Durán.
Black and brown attorneys mistaken for defendants, a culture that “discourages compassionate treatment” of people of color appearing in court, a Facebook post depicting a lynching, and a host of other racial injustices are among problems “so extensive and systemic in nature” they require a wholesale overhaul of the New York state court system, an alarming report released last week concludes.

    Youth Services Insider

    6/19/2019

    Can Predictive Analytics Root Out the Social Workers Most Likely to Break up Black Families?

    The idea of using predictive analytics in child welfare easily conjures images of child abuse investigators targeting parents a machine deems most likely to harm their children. Because black families are so disproportionately likely to be involved with the child protection system, critics credibly argue that predictive risk modeling will only exacerbate existing racial bias.

    2/4/2019

    Minnesota Wrestles with Foster Care’s Role in Breaking up Black Families

    On Dec. 3, a 28-year-old black mother lost her parental rights to her four children – ages 1 to 9 – in a Minnesota courtroom, just outside the Twin Cities. Instead of opening presents with their mother, the children spent Christmas with a white family two hours away.

    4/25/2017

    From Denial to Desperation: Misrepresentations on Child Welfare and Race

    In a column in The Chronicle earlier this month, Marie Cohen includes the following statement. Almost everything in it is untrue: Starting in the early 2000s, a group of wealthy foundations and allies called the Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare promoted the notion that a racist child welfare system is behind the disproportionate representation of African-American families in the child welfare system.