RE: recruitment of minority foster/adoptive parents

["Julia H. Littell" <jlittell@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The relevant comparison for the number of children are killed in state care
is a number we don't have: i.e., the number of children in state care who
would have been killed in their own homes had they not been in state care.
As I recall it, the Times article compares deaths in foster care to deaths
among children in the general population--and that not a fair comparison
because risk factors for the two groups are entirely different. There is
some evidence that maltreatment rates are higher for children returned to
their own homes than those in foster care.

At 05:28 PM 6/4/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>Whether "child welfare services are a service to children that have
>substantial benefits" is debatable, especially in terms of the current
>events in Florida and information in a Times Magazine article in
>November 2000 that reported that "children were killed in state care
>5.25 times more often than in their own homes." The issue of Race is
>important when one defines Race in terms of ethnicity or cultural
>values/norms/life, not merely as "color of skin." Race does matter in
>terms of heritage and sense of cultural continuity.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu
>[mailto:owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu] On Behalf Of
>Rick Barth
>Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 1:26 PM
>To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
>Cc: vernon carter
>Subject: Re: recruitment of minority foster/adoptive parents
>
>Since my work was cited twice by Mr. Carter in a recent posting, I
>thought I would
>send a brief clarification on the two points that he makes.
>
>First, I agree with Mr. Carter's description of my views, more or less, 
>Recruiting minority foster homes and adoptive families ALONE (and
>discouraging
>other willing families) is not a sufficient strategy to meet the
>permanency needs
>of the children in foster care.  We should, of course, continue to
>vigorously
>recruit all families willing and able to provide permanency.  Greater
>adoption by
>kin, as well as reduction of some of the barriers to adoption that
>pre-existed
>ASFA and MEPA, appear to have greatly increased the fairness of the
>child welfare
>system--now children of different racial/ethnic backgrounds have
>increasingly more
>similar chances to find a legally permanent home, when they can't safely
>go home. 
>
>
>Second, I do believe that child welfare services are a service to
>children that
>have substantial benefits and that there is good evidence that these
>benefits may
>include lower rates of mortality and subsequent incarceration.  This
>does not mean
>that children are best left in foster care, but does recognize that when
>they go
>home they remain at substantial developmental risk.  I am very much
>committed to
>finding ways to finance and deliver extended reunification services and
>shared
>family care programs and other means so that families can get enough
>services to
>be able to assist and protect children after foster care.
>
>Rick
>
>Richard P. Barth, Ph.D.
>Frank A Daniels Professor and
>Chair of the Doctoral Program
>School of Social Work
>301 Pittsboro Rd
>University of North Carolina
>Chapel Hill, NC  27599-3550
>(v) 919 962 6516
>(f)        962 1486
>
>-- Begin original message --
>
>From: "vernon carter" <vbrooks@nh.ultranet.com>
>Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 21:03:43 -0400
>Subject: Re: recruitment of minority foster/adoptive parents
>To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
><CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
>Reply-To: CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu
>
>It is fascinating to me, how we all bring our own understanding
>/perspective
>to a reading. Shirley Wilder is the name of the child who could not
>receive
>appropriate services from CPS in NYC. What I got from an article by
>Rosner &
>Markovitz, (1997) is that the NYC CPS system is and has been since its
>inception rife with racism. Any efforts that could ameliorate the trauma
>that children of color experience when they are removed from their homes
>would be a move in the right direction. This idea that race doesn't
>matter,
>frankly offends me.
>
>I know that R.P. Barth feels that efforts to find minority foster homes
>is
>not that answer for children of color who are lingering in foster care.
>But
>Jonson-Reid and Barth (2000) also feel that African American children
>are
>best left in foster care rather than return them to abusive and neglect
>situations. Unfortunately, it has to be pointed out that 68% of all
>children
>in care are there because of neglect and not abuse (Takayama & Wolfe,
>1998).
>
>We are a society that is racially polarized. Some communities are as
>segregated today, as they were 80 years ago. In the cities of New York
>and
>Chicago, African American and Caucasians live in communities that are no
>more integrated today than they were in the 1920s - when African
>Americans
>began immigrating from the South in large numbers (Christian Science
>Monitor, March 14, 2001).
>
>Here are two articles you might find to be helpful.
>
>Fagan. P. (1995). Why serious welfare reform must include serious
>adoption
>reform. The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1045. [Online].
>Available:
>http://www.frc.org/heritage/library/categories/healthwel/bg1045.html
>
>Briggs, H. (October 1994) Promoting adoptions by foster parents through
>an
>inner-city organization. Research On Social Work Practice, 4, (4),
>497-509.
>
>Vernon Brooks Carter, MSW (former CPSW worker)
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <dw432@columbia.edu>
>To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
><CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
>Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 3:36 PM
>Subject: Re: recruitment of minority foster/adoptive parents
>
>
>> Arnie--
>>      Interestingly, this policy (of placing like kids with like
>> parents) is nothing new. I just finished a book "The Lost Children of
>> Wilder: the epic struggle to change foster care" written by NYT
>> writer Nina Bernstein that gives a moving synopsis of failed policies
>> in the US foster care system (especially here in NYC). Why not focus
>> more on quality control of caring, nurturing parents (which has been
>> shown to all important to child development) instead of emphasizing
>> racial/cultural/religious orientation?
>> --Doug Waite, MD
>>
>> Quoting "PRITCHARD, ARNIE" <ARNIE.PRITCHARD@po.state.ct.us>:
>>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > The Connecticut Department of Children and Families is
>> > planning an
>> > evaluation of its efforts to comply with the "pool provision"
>> > of the
>> > Multi-ethnic Placement Act of 1994 (MEPA).  The pool provision
>> > requires any
>> > child placement agency receiving federal funds to make
>> > diligent efforts to
>> > recruit a pool of foster and adoptive parents who are
>> > ethnically similar to
>> > the children whom the agency is trying to place. In practice,
>> > this means
>> > efforts to recruit and retain foster and adoptive parents from
>> > ethnic
>> > minorities, especially African-Americans and Hispanic/Latinos.
>> >
>> > We would like to know of any studies either of 1)efforts to
>> > recruit minority
>> > foster/adoptive parents in general 2)specifically, studies of
>> > efforts to
>> > comply with the pool provisions of MEPA.
>> >
>> > Thank you for your attention.
>> >
>> > Arnie Pritchard
>> > Quality Assurance
>> Division
>> > Connecticut DCF
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> Doug Waite, MD
>> New York City
>>
>
>
>
>-- End original message --
>
>