Achieve Racial Equity in Child Welfare Services
California AB 636
The Child Welfare System Improvement and Accountability Act of 2001 established a statewide Child and Family Services Review system to review county systems and assist them in meeting outcomes consistent with those measured by the federal Child and Family Service Reviews. Implementation includes collection and analysis of county-level data related to race and disproportionality. In 2008, the California Disproportionality Project was created to conduct research, develop recommendations, and garner public support for reducing disproportionality and disparities in outcomes for children and families of color. Twelve counties were chosen and are in the process of collecting and analyzing data. The Project is a 24-month collaborative learning effort to support eliminating racial disproportionality and disparities.
Each county team is focused on reducing the number of African American children in the system. Placer and San Diego counties each have two teams, with the second team dedicated to reducing the number of Native American children in the child welfare system. The teams work together to form a shared definition of success for this project in its own county and communities. This definition is created through conversations with families, youth, communities, partners, and agency staff. Ultimately, the shared value statement, together with the results of ongoing data review and a facilitated self-assessment process, will form the core of a county-developed work plan that will serve as the foundation for the team’s efforts. This process includes the following steps.
Four convenings providing an opportunity for collaborative learning with the other teams involved in the project;
Continued awareness-building around the issues of disproportionality and disparities in child welfare exploring underlying contributing factors, including implicit and institutional bias;
On-going technical assistance for each team provided by experts in the field that will be focused on moving the work of each team forward;
Collection and review of data to describe disproportionality and disparities at the individual county and state level and provide participants with a picture of the issue in their communities and a baseline for improvement;
Facilitation of open communication so that challenging conversations can occur within the teams, with others in the county, across the state, and ultimately across the country;
Active community engagement that occurs on an ongoing and continuous basis in recognition of the fact that it will take the wider community to brainstorm ideas and implement solutions;
Training and engagement of staff in order to educate staff about the impact of their decisions and day-to-day practices on disproportionality and disparities and their potential for change;
Active family and youth engagement, both inidentifying challenges in the system and in being part of the solutions; and
Support and links to consulting and resources to move each team’s agenda forward in light of its unique data.
There is also a State Level Team that is made up of a representative from 9 different California State Departments. This State Level Team, also called the State Interagency Team, has a Disproportionality and Disparities Workgroup that is responsible for reviewing how all participating departments serve children and families and examining what each agency has done to address racial disproportionality. The participating State Departments are as follows.
California Department of Mental Health
Corrections Standards Authority
California Department of Social Services
California Department Alcohol & Drug Programs
California Department of Education
California Department of Public Health
California Department of Health Care Services
Center for Families, Children & the Courts, Judicial Council of California - Administrative Office of the Courts
California Workforce Investment Board