Search results for ‘Subject term:"black and minority ethnic people"’ Sort:
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Disentangling substantiation: the influence of race, income, and risk on the substantiation decision in child welfare
- Author:
- DETTLAFF Alan J.
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 33(9), September 2012, pp.1630-1637.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Using data from the Texas child welfare system this study aims to identify the factors contributing to disparities in decision making that leads to an overrepresentation of African American children in the care system in the US. Given the relationship between poverty and child maltreatment, the analyses control for the effect of family income, as well as other factors related to maltreatment, to better understand the effect of race on this decision-making point. Findings indicate that when family income is controlled, race is not a significant factor in the substantiation decision. However, when also controlling for caseworker perceptions of risk, race emerges as the stronger explanatory factor. This suggests not only an important relationship between race, income, and risk assessment, but also that disproportionality in the child welfare system is a complex phenomenon that cannot be explained by a single factor. These results further demonstrate that the effect of racial bias on decision-making remains an important consideration in understanding the overrepresentation of African American children.
African American families and the role of physical discipline: witnessing the past in the present
- Authors:
- THOMAS Krista A., DETTLAFF Alan J.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 21(8), November 2011, pp.963-977.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The use of physical discipline as a parenting strategy has long been controversial, with some supporting the tenet that when used appropriately it is an acceptable and sometimes necessary tool to produce well-behaved children. The practice tends to be especially endorsed within the African American community. This article examines the complex and sensitive topic of the use of physical discipline within African American families. It demonstrates that these disciplinary practices often originate from a place of family strength and love, historically utilised by Black parents to protect their children and socialise them to live safety within a dangerous society inherently plagued by institutionalised racism. The position is supported by research findings demonstrating that the impact of physical discipline on youth may vary across racial and ethnic groups and that its use has sometimes shown beneficial outcomes for African American children when used moderately and appropriately. This exploration is necessary to understand how the trauma rooted in slavery and maintained through present-day institutionalised racism can influence certain African American parents’ approach to raising their families. Available literature on corporal punishment is reviewed, and implications for culturally informed child welfare practice are provided.
Factors contributing to disproportionality in the child welfare system: views from the legal community
- Authors:
- DETTLAFF Alan J., RYCRAFT Joan R.
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work: A journal of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), 55(3), July 2010, pp.213-224.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Racial disproportionality in the child welfare system refers to the overrepresentation of a certain racial or ethnic group in comparison to their percentage in the child population. However, a critical shortcoming in the existing body of research addressing racial disproportionality is the lack of inclusion of external stakeholders in attempts to understand and address this issue. This article reports the results of a study designed to develop a better understanding of disproportionality from the views of the legal community, a critical stakeholder in child welfare. This qualitative research, based in two urban counties in Texan, United States, used focus groups consisting of 11 private attorneys, 6 judges, and 2 district attorneys to collect data to provide a greater depth of information that could be used alongside existing studies to develop an enhanced understanding of disproportionality in the child welfare system. Findings indicated that factors contributing to disproportionality within the child welfare system included: cultural bias; a fearful agency climate; communication barriers; ineffective service delivery; and workforce issues. Recommendations from focus group participants and implications are presented.
Hurdling the artificial fence between child welfare and the community: engaging community partners to address disproportionality
- Authors:
- RYCRAFT Joan R., DETTLAFF Alan J.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Community Practice, 17(4), October 2009, pp.464-482.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philapelphia, USA
Historically in the USA, national and state social welfare agencies for the protection of children have functioned in isolation with federal and state laws, and policies creating a fence around their work, encouraging a culture lacking in interprofessional collaboration. This study reports on one Texan child welfare agency addressing the overrepresentation of minority children in their system, while ‘hurdling the artificial fence’ between themselves and the wider professional and service user communities, in the spirit of recent reforms which insist on engagement of the community’s leaders, stakeholders and affiliated service providers in discussions and decision making with regard to children and their families. The reforms have been monitored nationally via two, largely unsuccessful, Child and Family Service Reviews (2000, 2007) indicating a major barrier of where and how to begin, and how to develop and maintain interprofessional relations still exists. This study’s focus group interviews, with community members comprised of predominantly black and minority ethic women, legal professionals and child welfare staff identified further barriers, such as the perceptions that child protection services case workers were unhelpful, lacked knowledge of community resources and outreach ability, and did not collaborate with other agencies. The authors provide recommendations for each of these barriers and list some examples of good practice, such as the Community Partnerships for Protecting Children, currently active in 4 urban areas.
Deconstructing disproportionality: views from multiple community stakeholders
- Authors:
- DETTLAFF Alan J., RYCRAFT Joan R.
- Journal article citation:
- Child Welfare Journal, 87(2), 2008, pp.37-58.
- Publisher:
- Child Welfare League of America
While the existence of racial disproportionality has been well documented, the causes of disproportionality are less clear. This study was designed to develop a deeper understanding of disproportionality from the views of multiple community stakeholders. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected in one state of the US to provide a greater depth of information that can be used alongside existing studies toward developing an enhanced understanding of disproportionality in child welfare. Factors identified included agency, community and factors shared between agency and community.
It is not a broken system, it is a system that needs to be broken: the upEND movement to abolish the child welfare system
- Authors:
- DETTLAFF Alan J., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Public Child Welfare, 14(5), 2020, pp.500-517.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The child welfare system disproportionately harms Black children and families through systemic over-surveillance, over-involvement, and the resulting adverse outcomes associated with foster care. Ending this harm will only be achieved when the forcible surveillance and separation of children from their parents is no longer viewed as an acceptable form of intervention. This paper describes the upEND movement, a collaborative movement aimed at abolishing the child welfare system as we know it and reimagining how we as a society support child, family, and community safety and well-being. (Edited publisher abstract)
Conducting culturally competent evaluations of child welfare programs and practices
- Authors:
- DETTLAFF Alan J., FONG Rowena
- Journal article citation:
- Child Welfare Journal, 90(2), 2011, pp.49-68.
- Publisher:
- Child Welfare League of America
As the demographics of the United States have changed, so has the population of children who come to the attention of the child welfare system. The evaluation of outcomes of services for children and families have predominantly been approached from a nationalistic perspective, guided by US values and norms. Given the changing demographics of the child welfare population, particularly in states experiencing growing refugee and immigrant populations, it increasingly important that activities to evaluate the outcome of child welfare services are culturally competent and understand the complexity of issues faced by immigrant children and families. This article discusses the challenges involved in conducting culturally competent evaluations. Challenges include language barriers, cross-cultural conceptual equivalency, time orientation, cross-cultural exchange, and measurement issues, each of which can affect reliability and validity of evaluation designs. Guidelines are provided for creating evaluation instruments and adapting existing instruments to ensure cultural and linguistic competence. Finally, the paper addresses specific challenges facing child welfare systems and strategies to address these challenges.