{"id":62572,"date":"2023-04-06T09:18:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T13:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/?p=62572"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:02:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:02:51","slug":"prof-scott-colleagues-recommend-anti-racist-changes-child-welfare-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/prof-scott-colleagues-recommend-anti-racist-changes-child-welfare-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Scott &#038; Colleagues Recommend Anti-Racist Changes to the Child Welfare System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The child welfare system (CWS) has been criticized for discriminating against children and families of color. While research often looks at individual or community issues, it often has not addressed CWS\u2019s historical or systemic problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A recent article by Profs. Judith Scott at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW), Bridget Cho at University of South Carolina Aiken, and Julia Fleckman at Tulane University School of Public Health examines the history of the child welfare system and its current issues. The article, \u201cAnti-Black Racism Within Child Welfare Services: Past, Present, and Future,\u201d suggests that if the system provides more support for parents, especially for families of color, it can help alleviate some of the CWS\u2019s problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5>Address Inequalities First<\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The authors state that while the CWS \u201cappears \u2018race neutral,\u2019 structural racism within these institutions results in actions and policies that promote racial inequity and discrimination.\u201d For instance, Black families are disproportionately separated from children due to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Discriminating against certain familial structures<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punishing parents facing intimate partner violence<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Misattributing abuse or neglect in cases of poverty<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One way to separate severe abuse from poverty-related cases is by addressing families\u2019 basic needs. The authors propose that this strategy \u201ccould both shrink the size and scope of the system, while also freeing up resources that allow the system to protect children experiencing severe abuse and neglect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The authors propose that research can help determine what communities need, and what the CWS can do to provide better care for families. Many grassroots organizations have also proposed that welfare reforms and treatment programs can reduce the need for CWS intervention. Advancing programs like paid family and medical leave and universal child allowance, increasing access and availability to quality mental health and substance use treatments, and addressing racial income and wealth gaps due to structural racism can all support families in poverty.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5>Abolish Mandated Reporting<\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In particular, the authors call for abolishing the mandated report system. Studies have found that most allegations from mandated reports are unsubstantiated and \u201coften initiate a course of state intervention that results in irreparable harm to children and families.\u201d Therefore, removing the mandated reporting system may reduce coercive and invasive CWS interventions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5>Community-Led Reform &amp; Respect for Family Units<\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reforming the CWS to be more community-led through support programs for parents can positively change society, too. \u201cThis sense of \u2018community ownership\u2019 empowers individuals to have the power and responsibility to protect vulnerable children,\u201d say the authors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part of community ownership also includes recognizing family units as entities rather than a sum of parts. \u201cWithin the realm of child welfare, we ought to consider not only the rights of the child and the parent but also the rights of the family,\u201d the authors explain. \u201cOperating from the assumption that the family unit has a right to exist supports efforts to enhance services that enable adequate caregiving.\u201d Framing CWS in the context of family units will also deter authorities from separating families unnecessarily.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5>Next Steps<\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research into community-based programs showed positive results in parental well-being and family support. However, a lack of resources may hinder further research into culturally relevant and better quality interventions. By shifting existing resources from invasive interventions to more supportive programs, the CWS can address their systemic issues and uplift communities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/index.php?gf-download=2023%2F02%2FCho-Fleckman-Scott-2023-Anti-Black-Racism-Within-Child-Welfare-Services85.pdf&amp;form-id=94&amp;field-id=9&amp;hash=088c619d9de80c3b0a615156d830821870fc3c83b6f0c4e28efb1bf8f5cbe92b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read the full article here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/profile\/judith-c-scott\/\"><b>Learn More About Professor Scott\u2019s Research<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The child welfare system (CWS) has been criticized for discriminating against children and families of color. While research often looks at individual or community issues, it often has not addressed CWS\u2019s historical or systemic problems.\u00a0 A recent article by Profs. Judith Scott at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW), Bridget Cho at University of South [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19132,"featured_media":62573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7513,7520,7426,7511,4057],"tags":[7253],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76181,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62572\/revisions\/76181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}