Racial Bias in Child Protection Study

This article discusses the recently-published Pediatrics study Racial Bias in Child Protection? A Comparison of Competing Explanations Using National Data.

The study makes the following conclusion: “that child abuse really is more common in Black than White homes. The study also challenges long-held suspicions that the disproportionately high numbers of Black abuse cases are driven by racial bias in the largely White social welfare workforce that reports abuse.”

“Using national reports and the most recent available data from the Census Bureau, the study found that of the 702,000 cases of substantiated child abuse in 2009, 44 percent involved White children who make up 75 percent of the population, and 22 percent involved Black children, who comprise 12 percent of the population. In 2009, Black children represented 21 percent of the total population of abused children.”

“Drake and his colleagues found that about 17 per 1,000 Black children were abused or neglected in 2009, compared to only 9 in 1,000 White children. The study noted that almost three times as many Blacks as Whites live below the poverty line, and that economic need plays a huge role in child abuse.”

This article is particularly interesting in that it quotes the opinions of two prominent players in the adoption and child welfare industry: the infamous Professor Elizabeth Bartholet and Richard Wexler of NCCPR .

“Elizabeth Bartholet, a professor at Harvard Law School supports the study’s findings. “There is no good evidence Black kids are removed for reasons related to bias,” she said at a recent conference on race and child welfare hosted by Harvard. “We need to focus on prevention of maltreatment and protection of Black children as well as White,” she added.” Astute readers will sound the   to Professor Bartholet’s infinite .

Critics

“Sondra Jackson, Executive Director of the Washington, D.C.-based Black Administrators in Child Welfare said that this study is yet another attempt to shift the discussion away from race and toward other causes like poverty. “People can use research to disprove stuff they don’t want to deal with,” she said.

Richard Wexler, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (NCCPR) offered critical comments about this and other studies, saying they are rife with fatal flaws in that they fail to take into account that child welfare decisions are affected by both class and racial biases, and they reinforce each other.

“Three-quarters of all “substantiated” cases of child maltreatment involve neglect,” said Wexler. He noted that state statutes typically define neglect as lack of adequate food, clothing, shelter or supervision – “the definition of poverty.” Wexler added, “It makes perfect sense that poverty, in addition to causing higher rates of infant mortality, low birth weight, etc. would both contribute to more actual maltreatment, if only due to the additional stress that comes with being poor, but also, more important, to the appearance of more maltreatment when the poverty itself is confused with neglect.”

Wexler and other critics have noted that since Blacks are disproportionately poor, they are disproportionately at risk for being mislabeled as guilty of neglect. “To know where the class bias leaves off and the racial bias begins, it’s necessary to use methods that control for poverty,” said Wexler. He noted that studies conducted by the NCCPR has shown that caseworkers are more likely to describe a child as “at risk” when the family is Black.”

Study: Racial Bias Not Real Culprit in Black Child Abuse Cases
[Black Voice News 4/14/11 by Stacey Patton]

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