RE: over-representation of African American families in the child welfare system

[Susan Cole <sacole@xxxxxxxx>]

This is an issue that has been investigated by researchers at the Children
and Family Resource Center in the School of Social Work here at the
University of Illinois. I suggest you contact: John Poertner and Philip
Garnier who have looked at this issue in Illinois.

Susan A. Cole, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1207 W. Oregon Street, mc-140
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 244-5231
Fax: (217) 244-5220


-----Original Message-----
From: David Crampton [mailto:dsc14@po.cwru.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 11:12 AM
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject: over-representation of African American families in the child
welfare system

In Cleveland we are renewing efforts to address the over-representation
of African American children in foster care.  In Cuyahoga County, the
rate of Caucasian children placed in foster care is 3 per 1,000 children
while the rate for African American children is 13 per 1,000.  While I
know the difference in these rates is often significant in many parts of
the United States, there is some feeling here that this difference is
unusually large, even for an urban child welfare system.  I would
appreciate any information on rates in other U.S. cities/urban counties.

Thanks, 

David Crampton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences
Case Western Reserve University
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH  44106-7164
216-368-6680