Children of color, particularly African American and Native American children, are disproportionately overrepresented in the child welfare system. Nationally, 33% of children in foster care are African American, but only 15% of the child population is (Disproportionality and Disparity in Child Welfare, Nat’l Conf. of State Legislatures (Sep. 28,2020)). As illustrated in Figure 1 above, in California, African American children are only 5.2% of the child population, yet 21.7% of children in foster care. Similarly, American Indian/Alaska Native children are only 0.37% of children in California, yet 1.3% of children in foster care. Although Latinx children are 52% of the California child population and 50.3% of the foster care population, prior research has shown that they are overrepresented in the child welfare system in other states like Utah, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. In contrast, white and Asian children are under-represented in the child welfare system. Whereas white children are 26.6% of children in California, they are only 22.5% of children in foster care. Likewise, Asian children are 10.8% of children in California, but they make up only 2% of children in foster care.

Extensive research has been conducted to further understand the causes and consequences of disproportionality in the child welfare system. This article does not fully review that research, but rather encourages careful attention to the ways in which structural racism, classism, ableism, and bias operate in conjunction to produce and exacerbate inequities in the child welfare system and beyond.

For instance, it is impossible to understand the overrepresentation of African American children in the child welfare system without considering the over-surveillance of African American families through mass incarceration, mandated reporting, and the child welfare system itself, as well as systems of poverty. In the United States, five million children have a parent who is or was previously incarcerated, and these children are more likely to grow up with limited resources or enter foster care. This is especially troubling since African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons between five and ten times the rate of whites. Moreover, children of color are overrepresented in reports of suspected maltreatment by all groups of reporters (including mandated reporters) (Racial Disproportionality and Disparity in Child Welfare, Children’s Bureau (Nov. 2016)). Prior research has shown that African American women are more likely to be reported for child abuse when their newborns test positive for drug use and that hospitals over-report abuse and neglect among African Americans but under-report maltreatment among whites.

Studies have also shown that when presented with physical injuries, doctors are more likely to diagnose them as “accidents” among affluent families but “abuse” among poor families. Parents accessing income supplements come under increased surveillance by the state through their system contacts. Poor parents are more likely to face charges of neglect and possible child removal based on conditions related to their financial circumstances such as “poor food quality or lack of medical supervision – factors with which affluent parents are not confronted.” Thus, African American children, who are almost four times as likely as white children to live in poverty, are exponentially more likely to be funneled through a child welfare system plagued with disparate rates of removal and reunification.

Finally, children with disabilities and children of parents with disabilities are overrepresented in the child welfare system. Children with disabilities compose up to 50% of children in the child welfare system even though the rate of disability in the total child population is only 13%. Factors contributing to such disparate rates may include but are not limited to disability bias in the child welfare system, the multiple stressors of parenting a child with a disability, drug and alcohol exposure in utero, and the mental health and behavioral disabilities created by the trauma of living in the child welfare system. Of note, parents with disabilities often face allegations of abuse based in the devaluation of their parenting skills, and their disability itself can be used as grounds for termination of parental rights. Thus, as with race and class, disability serves to negatively influence outcomes for children and families in the child welfare system.

Students of color are overrepresented in all stages of school discipline including suspensions, expulsions, referrals to law enforcement, and arrest. Teachers are significantly more likely to discipline African American students for relatively minor infractions than any other group, and often want stronger disciplinary actions taken against African American students with a second minor infraction than white students. Nationally, African American students are nearly four times as likely to be suspended than white students. Despite comprising only 18% of public school students, 40% of students expelled from U.S. schools each year are African American. Further, 70% of school discipline cases referred to law enforcement are African American or Latinx students. Decisions to involve police are often informed by both conscious and unconscious biases, which is especially significant considering that the teaching profession is predominantly white.

Students of color with disabilities and those living in foster care experience even higher rates of school discipline. As illustrated in Figure 6 above, students of color with disabilities living in foster care experience the highest rates of suspension in California compared to all students, students with disabilities, or youth in foster care alone. This phenomenon is also observed in the percentage of students with multiple suspensions. As shown in Figure 7 below, 30% of all California students have multiple suspensions, yet nearly 56% of students with disabilities in foster care have multiple suspensions. This data highlights only a few of the ways in which race, foster care status, and disability intersect to produce and exacerbate inequitable school discipline outcomes. However, as detailed below, it fails to capture the unique experience of Black girls.

Most research on school discipline has focused on African American boys, showing that they are perceived as less innocent and more adult than their white peers. Recent research has shown that African American girls too are viewed as less innocent and more adult, but also as needing less nurturing, protection, support, and comfort. The adultification of African American girls contributes to disproportionate discipline rates, harsher punishment, and an increased risk of juvenile justice system contact. In part because teachers often perceive them as loud, defiant, or precocious, African American girls are more likely to face exclusionary discipline for subjective reasons and are often punished more harshly than their peers for the same behaviors. African American girls are also more likely to be referred to law enforcement or arrested at school. In the words of Dr. Morris, author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, “Black girls are being criminalized in and by the very places that should help them thrive.”