Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System: Child Protective Services and Foster Care

Project Summary

Nationally there is a disproportionate number of children of color (African American & Latino) in the child welfare system. Durham County is no different. However, reviewing this problem through the lens of data has not been done to formulate or implement possible solutions. Durham County Department of Social Services Child & Family Services would like to evaluate systems to identify where and how disproportionality and disparity are occurring. It is occurring at the entry point of Reporting child abuse and neglect? Is it occurring at the case decision? Is our reunification time different for African American children? Or Does it take longer for a child of color to achieve permanence through adoption? Organizing the data to show us our “hot spots” would facilitate further discussion and focus on solutions to an age-old systemic problem.

Faculty Lead: Greg Herschlag

Project Lead: Jovetta L Whitfield

Themes and Categories
Interdisciplinary Inquiry, Public Policy
Child Mental Health, Data+, Social Sciences
Year
2021
Contact
Paul Bendich
Mathematics
bendich@math.duke.edu
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