FREE ESSAY ON CHILD WELFARE

CHILD WELFARE

The Race Factor in Child Welfare: The Role of Poverty
There are many racial issues that have been acknowledged over the years and there have
been many changes in the institution working for blacks and other races. However, we
still have individual discrimination among the society in this world today. Research
shows very clearly that African-American families and children are treated far
differently by the system than white families and their children. Latinos, too, suffer
from racial and ethnic bias. Asians also have this problem, but the state and city don't
really keep up with the data for that population, so there is no way of knowing for
sure.
This is a time of change in child welfare for this new millenium. The number of children
the city removed from parents and placed in foster care increased even as crime rates
declined, drug use was down, and the general standard of living in poor neighborhoods had
improved. The impact of this increase is proportioned more towards African Americans and
Latinos. Research shows that black parents are far more likely to be reported for abuse
or neglect than whites. Therefore, black children are twice as likely as whites to be
removed from the home. I am not arguing that children don't need protection, but some
parents refuse to care for their children in a good way, and these kids often have to be
placed in someone else's care.
Racism is defined as the unfair control that one group places over another group due to
the belief that those to be controlled are inferior to others. The removal of a Black or
Latino child from his or her parents is without a doubt a racist action in a system
controlled by whites. Many minority leaders argue that because our child welfare system
serves minorities and the very poor, it has become a series of interventions that tear up
families, rather than providing a support network that gives them what they need to
survive.
Poverty, drugs, and abuse are critical factors in a government worker's decision to
remove a child. One national survey of abuse and neglect cases in the 80's found that
children in families with incomes below $15,000 were five times more likely to be
victimized by their parents than those with incomes above that level(Pelton, 1994).
Low-income parents are often under greater stress and are more poorly educated. And black
and Latino families are far more likely to be poor than white families.
The government data reflect a huge racial disparity in the way families are treated by
the city's child welfare system. In 1996, two of every five African-American children in
confirmed-abuse and neglect cases were removed from their parents' custody. Nearly half 
were removed in 1995. And nearly three in five were removed in 1994. Meanwhile, only one
of every five white children in confirmed reports was removed in 1995 and 1996, and one
of every four in 1994. Families whose children are not taken away are usually referred to
community-based social service programs, drug treatment or counseling.
Racial and cultural bias, as well as higher rates of poverty among African-Americans,
appears to be among the key factors underlying the removal of children, according to
academic researchers and child welfare practitioners. Racial bias, however, was not the
only factor underlying this disparity. A study points out that the black women may have
had less stable housing and inadequate access to prenatal services-two factors
researchers determined were statistically related to the removal of a child. 
Black leaders in the advocacy and nonprofit fields say that black children are removed
from their families more often than white children primarily because of age-old
stereotypes about black families. The structure of African-American families is very
different from that of American society as a whole. A single mother usually heads many
black families and Black families also have far lower income on average than white
families, partly because so many black households have only one parent.
Children have always been an important component of families. However, changing family
patterns have meant that children are no longer central to our definition of
family(Eitzen & Zinn 352).
Sometimes it is good for the child to get removed from a family. There are some cases
where there is violence in the home and parents leave their kids all alone by themselves
in the house. There are some instances where a child may be 9 years of age taking care of
his brothers or sisters while the parents are in the streets. I feel that in these
instances immediate removal of the kids is necessary. But, there should be some kind of
agreement between the parents or parent of the sibling and the authorities to help the
parent get their life together in order for them to receive custody of their kids again.
Don't get me wrong, removal of kids happen all over the world with different people and
different races. This just does not happen to Black and Latino families, this happens to
any and every kind of race, all I am saying is that it is wrong, but these people made a
choice of being on drugs and not getting there education, and some of them pay for it. We
cannot justify what happens to some people and their families, but what everyone can do
is learn to be responsible and do whatever it takes to keep their family together.
The issues that are current in today's society may not seem important, but they are very
decisive in the way the new millenium will turn out. We, as a whole have to have the
audacity to stand up and be accounted for. I know that one person alone will not conquer
the problems, but if we all join together to fight racial inequality, poverty, and job
discrimination, we could live a more beneficial life. 
Being educated in this field of learning has taught me many things. I understand that
there has to be some people in poverty. Everyone in the world cannot be elites, and have
the power that they do. But, we tend to overlook that if there were no poor people there
would not be any rich people. We need to look after the children of today and put them
under a microscope and determine their use in the society. If the states just take
children out of their families, what right is coming out of that? Nothing! The government
needs to help the family, whether it is getting one of the parents a decent job, or give
them more aid assistance, not tear down the home. Hopefully, these things will change for
the better. We are only human!