Disproportionality In Foster Care

Foster care is transitory housing where children are brought when there are circumstances in which their parent or guardian does not have the capacity to take care of them. Children and youth enter foster care because they may have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by these figures. Foster children are no different from children who aren’t in foster care: they are learning and growing, like to play and hang out with friends their age, and need the love and stability a permanent home provides. However, the foster care system has faults that require reform. Racial disproportionality has become apparent in the foster care system. Disproportionality is “the level to which groups of children represent in the child welfare system at higher or lower percents/rates than their presence in the general population”. Moreover, it reveals that “unequal
Though it may be dispersed throughout various parts of the United States, it is essentially prevalent everywhere. In most states, there are higher proportions of African American/Black and Native American children in foster care than in the general child population. In some states, Hispanic children are disproportionately represented. Data can may also vary at the county level, with some counties experiencing more disproportionality than is evident statewide. As early as the first round of the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs), numerous State Final Reports noted the problem of disproportionality in the child welfare system and reported on issues that may intensify or cause the overrepresentation of minority group. Race correlates with involvement in the child welfare system more closely than poverty.5 While there are local variations, Latino children