Racial Bias, Poverty, and the Notion of Evidence

The overrepresentation of Black children has been observed in the child welfare system for nearly 60 years yet persists as un unresolved problem. Efforts to address this overrepresentation have been hampered by a persistent debate in the child welfare field regarding the factors that contribute to t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child welfare 2021-05, Vol.99 (3), p.61-90
Main Authors: Dettlaff, Alan J., Boyd, Reiko, Merritt, Darcey, Plummer, Jason Anthony, Simon, James D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African American Children
Analysis
Bias
Black people
Child abuse
Child abuse & neglect
Child Neglect
Child poverty
Child welfare
Children
Debates
Discrimination
Disproportionate Representation
Foster Care
Poverty
Racial bias
Racial differences
Racial inequality
Racism
Representativeness
Socioeconomic factors
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Summary:The overrepresentation of Black children has been observed in the child welfare system for nearly 60 years yet persists as un unresolved problem. Efforts to address this overrepresentation have been hampered by a persistent debate in the child welfare field regarding the factors that contribute to this problem. This debate concerns the extent to which racial bias in child welfare systems contributes to the observed racial disparities, or whether poverty and “disproportionate need” are the stronger causal factors. Although research supports both of these views, the persistence of this debate points to a larger problem in the child welfare field regarding how evidence is constructed, the hierarchies placed on evidence, and the lens through which evidence is generated and interpreted. This paper reviews the history of this debate, the harmful consequences that result, and a call to reevaluate how we understand the problem of racism that exists in child welfare systems.
ISSN:0009-4021
2833-5619