America’s child welfare system has been complicit for decades in the oppression of Black and Indigenous children, families, and communities through government-sanctioned historical and ongoing practices of surveillance, investigation, and forced family separation.
Black children are twice as likely to be separated from their families and Indigenous children are almost three times as likely to be taken from their families than white children. Once in the system, Black children also are more likely to languish in foster care, less likely to be reunified with their families, more likely to be placed in group care, age out in greater numbers, and become involved in the criminal legal system.
In this webinar, presented by the TAY Federal Coalition and hosted by the Youth Law Center, we kick off a virtual congressional briefing series on systemic racism and racial justice in the child welfare system. The series aims to provide Members of Congress and congressional staffers with the information necessary to understand the history and ongoing impact of systemic racism on children, youth, and families. The series will also highlight how current structures and policies affect families every day and the need for solutions, co-designed with those who have experienced and been impacted by the child welfare system.
Shereen A. White, Children’s Rights Director of Advocacy and Policy, moderated part one of the series on Friday, June 17, exploring the history of racism and inequity in the development of the child welfare system, the harm to youth and families, and principles for moving forward to address these inequities.
Featured Speakers
Alexandra Citrin, Senior Associate at Center for the Study of Social Policy
Dr. Angelique G. Day, Associate Professor at University of Washington School of Social Work
David Kelly, Director, Family Integrity & Justice Works
Tashia Roberson-Wing, Founder of Diaries of a Black Girl in Foster Care
Shrounda Selivanoff, Director of Public Policy at Children’s Home Society of Washington
Alexandria Ware, Owner at Culture Creations Inc. and Ware Consulting LLC
Shereen A. White, Director of Advocacy & Policy, Children’s Rights
Disrupt Institutional Racism in Child Welfare Systems.
Pledge to help end the unjust, unnecessary, and devastating surveillance, investigation, and removal of Black children from their families. We must start by unequivocally naming institutional racism as a force at work in child welfare systems. Then we must take action to disrupt it!
