Transcending the Model Minority Myth: Asian Americans and Their Access to Child Welfare Services

Background and Purpose:

Long viewed as a “model minority” in the United States, the social problems among Asian Americans are largely understudied. Researchers have suggested that this model minority myth may cause this population’s social problems to be overlooked and result in limited access to social services in United States.

To date, Asian Americans have a disproportionally low representation regarding substantiated child maltreatment cases in comparison to other racial groups. Previous literature has focused on the inadequate and unstable child and family support services provided to other minorities by state child protective services; however, little research has examined the adequacy of access to services for the Asian American population in the child welfare system. To fill this research gap, a national dataset was used to compare service outcomes among different races and ethnicities while controlling for confounding factors including case disposition level and various family risk factors.

Methods:

Data and Samples: This study is based on the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDAS) Child File FFY 2015. This dataset consists of child-related data of all investigated child maltreatment reports to state child protective services, with over 51,000 cases involving Asian American children.

Measurements: First, we grouped variables into the three major categories of services provided by state child protective agencies: family services, health services, and financial/living services. We also generated one caretaker risk factor and three child risk factors consisting of substance abuse, mental health, and physical health issues. Controlling for maltreatment disposition level, numbers of allegations, child age, child sex, care taker risk factor, child risk factors, and maltreatment history, a zero-inflated Poisson regression model was used to estimate the incidence rate ratio (IRR) of services provided to different races and ethnicities.

Results:

Overall, this national dataset shows that for Asian Americans, only 17.9% of the reported child maltreatment cases received services. This service rate is relatively low compared to Caucasian (25.2%), African American (22.4%), and Hispanic/Latinx (21.0%) populations. Controlling for selected confounding factors, Asian Americans receive significantly less family services than most of the other races/ethnicities, including Native American, Hispanic/Latinx, and African American populations. Among all three service categories, the health outcome exhibits the largest disparity — Asian Americans have been provided significantly less mental and physical health services compared to Native American (IRR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.27-0.71), Caucasian (IRR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.60-0.88), Hispanic/Latinx (IRR =0.68, 95% CI: 0.53-0.83) and African American (IRR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.76- 0.98) populations.

Conclusions and Implications:

This study supports the need for increased attention to the services provided to the Asian American population by the child welfare system. This finding stands in stark contrast to the myth that Asian Americans are a “model minority” for whom such services are unnecessary and highlights the need for future efforts to elucidate the underlying mechanism behind this disparity in service access.