June 9, 2025
Given how it has historically shown up in the African American community, the child welfare system has earned its critics. They point to a history of systemic racism and inequality that leads to a disproportionate number of Black children being removed from their homes and spending more time in foster care than children of other ethnicities. Some of the most outspoken detractors are former social workers, legal experts and adults who have been scarred by their experiences in the system.
A number of African Americans are working from different vantage points to address the disparities and improve the level of care that Black children receive.
Shereen A. White
Shereen A. White joined Children’s Rights in 2019 as a senior staff attorney. The national advocacy organization’s policy work focuses on racial inequities in child welfare. In 2021, White took on the role as the organization’s first director of advocacy and policy. She could have gone into a more financially lucrative area of law, but a personal connection to the child welfare system put her on a different career path.
“People are hurting and struggling and until they’re not, we have to keep pushing,” says White, a graduate of both Duke University and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. “I want to be able to use the privileges that I’ve had and this education that I’ve had to do good for children and families that look like my own.”