Racial Differences in Child Welfare Placement Types

Background and Purpose

Decades of research has found that minority children are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system despite no conclusive evidence that parents of minority children are more likely to abuse or neglect their children than white parents (Hill, 2006). There has been less focus in the literature on racial disproportionalities within specific out-of-home placement types, such as residential treatment facilities.  The study hopes to contribute to efforts to eliminate both racial disparities in child welfare outcomes and reliance on the use of residential treatment facilities. The topic touches on two of the “Grand Challenges” of social work: Ensuring healthy development for all youth and achieving equal opportunity and justice. The study hypothesis was that there would be racial differences the representation of minority children in placement types.

Methods: 

The current study utilized secondary administrative data from a mid-Atlantic state. The sample was 11,439 children over the age of 13 who were placed outside of the home through child welfare from January 2014 to June 2017. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to look at the impact of race on odds of placement different forms of placement in comparison to residential treatment while controlling for other variables. A binary logistic regression model with residential treatment placement as the outcome variable was also completed.

Results:

Beginning results show that African-American children were underrepresented in residential treatment facilities when compared to White children, while children within other racial groups were overrepresented. Results of the multinomial regression indicated that race was a significant predictor of placement in a family setting compared to a residential treatment facility (b = .332, p < .01, OR = 1.39), but was not a significant predictor for other placement types. Results of the binary logistic regression model indicate that race was a significant predictor for residential treatment placement, with African-American children having lower odds of placement in a residential treatment facility compared to White children (b = -.306, p = .03, OR = .737) and children of other races having a higher odds of placement in residential treatment facilities than White children (b = .718, p < .01, OR = 2.05).

Conclusions and Implications: 

Outcomes of the study indicate that African-American children are underrpresented in residential treatment placements, and that children of Other races have significantly higher odds of being placed in a residential treatment placement compared to White children. These differences may be caused by higher rates of contact with the juvenile justice system among African-American children. Results may also be caused by disparities in access to quality mental health services. There may also be different thresholds for removal from the home for children of different races due to behavioral issues. Implications include a need to further examine differences between racial groups in terms of mental health care access and service referrals. 

Hill, R.B. (2006). Synthesis of research on disproportionality in child welfare: An update. Casey CSSP Alliance for Racial Equality in the Child Welfare System. Retrieved from https://www.cssp.org/reform/child-welfare/other-resources/synthesis-of-research-on-disproportionality-robert-hill.pdf.