Racial Equity & Cultural Competence
Other Studies (Documents & Reports)
Data show minority juveniles arrested more often (AP Article)
ALBANY, N.Y. - With data showing black and Hispanic juveniles in New York arrested, detained and confined to custody far more often than whites, state officials are looking for ways to reduce that disproportion. Data show minority children statewide are arrested almost twice as often as whites, are six times likelier to be detained awaiting trial and are five times likelier to be confined.
OVERVIEW Disproportionate Minority Representation (DMR) in OCFS Service Delivery May 2009
Disproportionate Minority Representation (DMR) or disproportionality occurs when the percentage for the representation of a particular minority group (racial, ethnic) involved with a service system, is significantly higher or lower than that group’s percentage or representation in the general population. The following overview depicts DMR data related to OCFS’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems. However, it must be noted that disproportionality has implications across all services administered by OCFS, i.e. child care, youth development, blind and visually handicapped, and workforce development. In some of these service categories disproportionality manifests itself by over-representation of racial/ethnic groups, and in other service categories it is manifested by under-representation of racial/ethnic groups.
For the past two decades, the federal government has sought to reduce the overrepresentation of children of color in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Two pieces of legislation are emblematic of those efforts. The first is the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which established addressing disproportionate minority contact as a core requirement for states’ juvenile justice agencies to receive federal funding. The second is the 2003 reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which requires the federal government to support collaborative work across the child welfare and juvenile justice systems through data collection on youth known to be involved with both.
EVALUATION OF CASA REPRESENTATION
Research Summary
Approximately 70,000 Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteer to represent the best interests of children who are involved with the child welfare system. Despite the CASA program’s potential for great influence, research on CASA volunteers – their characteristics and activities – is limited. Quality research on the well-being of children represented by CASA volunteers is even more scarce. The current study combines data collected through the National CASA Association’s management information system with national data on the well-being of children in the child welfare system. It provides a rare glimpse into the characteristics of CASA volunteers and their training and activities. The study also compares the services received by children with and without a CASA and describes how often CASA volunteers’ recommendations are followed by the court. Finally, the study compares the well-being of children in the child welfare system with and without a CASA volunteer.
African American Children In Foster Care
- Children of all races and ethnicities are equally likely to be abused or neglected (National Incidence Study -NIS)
- African American children were more than twice as likely to enter foster care in 2004 when compared with white children.
- After entering foster care, African American children remained in foster care about 9 months longer.
- Disproportionality is the extent to which a certain group is over-or under-represented relative to its proportion in the general population
Proposed Initiative:
Review of data maintained by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) identifies a consistent, and disproportionate number of minority children in out of home placement both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. OCFS data correlates with findings and a national call for action instituted by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Child Welfare League of America, Center for the Study of Social Policy, the Casey Family programs, and others. Findings published by these organizations cite children of color and specifically African American children, as being disproportionately represented in out of home placements in more than 90% of the states. For many, this is a “crisis” situation for the children and families affected.
Race Disparities in Psychiatric Rates in Emergency Departments
Psychiatric diagnoses based on the International Classification of Diseases—Ninth Revision were
examined in the medical discharge records of 33,000 emergency department (ED) patients to determine if (a) psychiatric disorders were underdiagnosed, (b) there were race and gender disparities in psychiatric rates, and (c) psychiatric rates varied as a function of type of injury (e.g., self vs. other-inflicted injuries) and medical diagnosis.
Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life, Implications for Clinical Practice
Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.
