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Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice. Overcoming Service Disparities Faced by Children of Color. Terry L. Cross. THEORIES OF DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY REPRESENTATION. View I: “Disproportionate Need” Poverty American Indian/Alaska Native: 35% in poverty (rural 45%)

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Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

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  1. Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Overcoming Service Disparities Faced by Children of Color Terry L. Cross

  2. THEORIES OF DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY REPRESENTATION • View I: “Disproportionate Need” • Poverty • American Indian/Alaska Native: 35% in poverty (rural 45%) • White: 10% (rural 12%)

  3. THEORIES OF DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY REPRESENTATION • Link Between Poverty and Maltreatment • Families with incomes under $15,000 are 26.5 times more likely to have a substantiated incidence of maltreatment • Neglect incidents are 3 times that of abuse (NIS-3)

  4. DOES THE LINK HOLD UP? • Rural families less likely to be involved in maltreatment • For Indian families in one study of neglect, per capita income was not correlated with neglect, although income linked with other factors was associated with neglect (Nelson, 1994)

  5. THEORIES OF DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY REPRESENTATION • View II: “Bias and Child Welfare Decision Making” • Differential Treatment: Reporting • African American and White women are equally likely to test positive for drugs during pregnancy • African American women are ten times more likely to be reported to CPS as a result of a positive test (USGAO, 1994)

  6. THEORIES OF DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY REPRESENTATION • Differential Treatment: Investigation and Substantiation • Indian children are victims of maltreatment at about the same rate as other children nationally, however, they: • Are substantiated as maltreated twice as often as white children • Experience placement 3 times as often (CWLA, 2003)

  7. THEORIES OF DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY REPRESENTATION • View II: Bias and Decision Making • Differential Treatment: Service Choices • All children of color are less likely to receive family preservation • Families of color are less likely to receive mental health, substance abuse, or supportive services • Families of color are less likely to receive reunification services • Resource families of color are less likely to receive help to adopt

  8. JUVENILE JUSTICE • American Indian youth are represented at 2.4 times the rate of Whites in state and federal juvenile justice systems and in secure confinement (DOJ, 1999) • Incarcerated Indian youth are much more likely to be subjected to the harshest treatment in the most restrictive environments (Pepper spray, restraint, isolation, and death while in confinement appear to be grossly and disproportionately applied to Indian youth) (YLC, 2003)

  9. JUVENILE JUSTICE • “On a given day, 1 in 25 American Indians age 18 or older is under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system—2.4 times the per capita rate of Whites…” • Native American youth represent 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet they constitute 2 to 3 percent of the youth arrested for such offenses as larceny-theft and liquor law violations. (U.S. DOJ, 1999)

  10. JUVENILE JUSTICE • Native American youth are disproportionately placed in secure confinement in comparison to their population in 26 states. For example, in four states (South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, and Montana), Native youth account for anywhere from 29% to 42% of youth in secure confinement. (Guilfoyle, 2003) • 74% of the youth in custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons were Native American as of October 2003; an increase of 50% since 1994.

  11. LINKING MALTREATMENT, PLACEMENT, DELINQUENCY, AND MENTAL HEALTH • Victims of maltreatment have delinquency rates an average of 47% higher than non-victims • 16% of children placed in substitute care experience at least one delinquency petition compared to 7% of victims not removed from their families • Placement instability further increases risk for delinquency • 1 in 5 juvenile offenders has an untreated SED (CWLA,2003)

  12. 100 Reported 8 Placed 25 Substantiated MALTREATMENT DECISION PATH: White Children

  13. 100 Reported 50 Substantiated 25 Placed DECISION PATH TO DISPARITY • American Indian Children Juvenile delinquency risk for Indian children increases

  14. POTENTIAL ANSWERS • Research to better understand the problems and the dynamics that cause them • Reduction of poverty • Community-based services that are child centered and family driven. • Cultural competence among professionals, organizations, and systems

  15. INDIVIDUAL CULTURAL COMPETENCE “The state of being capable of functioning effectively in the context of cultural differences”

  16. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURAL COMPETENCE “A set of congruent • practice skills, • attitudes, • policies, and • structures which come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enable that system, agency or those professionals to work effectively in the context of cultural differences.”

  17. ELEMENTS OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE 1. Awareness and acceptance of difference 2. Awareness of own cultural values 3. Understanding the “dynamics of difference 4. Development of cultural knowledge 5. Ability to adapt practice to fit the cultural context of the family(Cross, 1989) The heart of the disparity issue.

  18. ORGANIZATIONALELEMENTS OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE • Valuing diversity • Cultural self-assessment of organization • Managing for the dynamics of difference • Institutionalization of cultural knowledge • Adaptation to diversity • Policies • Values • Structure • Services

  19. ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENTS Advisory Committees Review Procedure Cultural Consultants Cultural Competence Plans Cultural Coordinator Facility/Décor Job Descriptions Extended Family Support Identity Enhancement Values Clarification Ethnographic Interviewing Cultural Assessment Clinical/Cultural Plans Context Stretching Cross-Cultural Supervision STRUCTURE PRACTICE Organization Cultural Competence Agency Standards Mission Statement Job Qualifications Cultural Competence Policy Statement ATTITUDE Self-Assessment Training Increased Contact Staffing Collaboration POLICY

  20. OREGON EXAMPLE • Between 1994 and 2000 Multnomah County reduced disproportionate minority confinement • Reducing case processing time • Creating objective risk assessments • Hiring a diverse workforce • Developing community/culturally-based alternatives • Training staff in cultural competence • Tracking over-representation over time

  21. CULTURAL COMPETENCE CONTINUUM(Cross, 1989) • Culturally Destructive • Cultural Incapacity • Cultural Blindness • Pre-Competence • Basic Cultural Competence • Cultural Proficiency “Somewhere between cultural incapacity and basic cultural competence lie the roots of disparity.”

  22. WHAT NOW? • Use this model as a framework • Do a self-assessment • Make a commitment to the process • Develop a plan for action • Share what you learned • Do something different

  23. Let’s remember why we are really here today…

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