Racism in social work

[teancum79]

As some of you may know I'm working on a Masters degree in social work. As part of this I'm hanging out in an agency learning the ropes.

Anyhow I've run into some interesting information relating to the way in which CPS deals with families. In particular if a family wants to become a foster family the state will do a background check. If your an African American family they will check on many more relatives than if you are of any other race. (One guy described it as looking until you find a felony to disqualify the family). This along with some other apparent issues result in way higher numbers of African American kids being in foster care and often not with their family or even people from the same race and culture. Granted some of the higher rates of African American kids being in foster care can relate to poverty, but on average they are 4 times more likely to wind up in foster care than a white kid. Native kids have similar problems as well.


Thoughts?

[dianaholberg]

Are these government agencies? If so, chalk that one up there with all the other corruption in government... It's tough. I've worked with state government agencies off and on over the past ten years -- first as a contractor and for the last year and a half as a full time state government employee. I'd say that I face a moral dilemma comparable to this one every three months or so.

I have personally committed to do the right thing wherever possible, and in situations where I know I have no influence, I try to boycott involvement. I think I have a reputation for doing things by the book, resisting requests to do things the wrong way, and using ingenuity to resolve situations in ways that are legitimate. My phone rings less frequently than it otherwise would, though, because it's usually faster for people to take their requests to the folks who will follow instructions without question.

Chances are that the related policies are not written very clearly or specifically, making it a "grey area" policy-wise. In that case, it becomes a matter of personal integrity rather than a policy issue. You have to decide whether or not you will participate.

If I were you, I would find out if this is against policy by asking that guy (or other co-workers, if he is uncooperative) point blank. If there is a specifically written policy, I would obtain a copy of it for my records -- they are usually easily accessible. Then if it comes up again in conversation, I would casually tell my co-workers (not my supervisor) that I am not doing it this way, and if they press (which they probably won't) I would tell them that if auditors ask about these kinds of abuses I will not cover up the fact that this is taking place.

Hopefully that will be enough incentive for those working with you to start shaping up. I would not mention anything to my supervisor unless my evaluations are affected by this approach -- personally, mine never have been. Supervisors are usually too busy fighting fires to get involved in how individual employees are approaching their work, and over the years I have found it preferable to effect change by example rather than by making a lot of waves.

Alternatively, if you're thinking that governmental social work may not be for you and practicing privately would be better, you could throw caution to the wind and leak the story to the press. I'd expect the media would make a good story of it, even if it does turn out to be a "grey area" in policy.

[teancum79]

the agency I'm at contracts with CPS. This info is not a secret its published and semi published research. To steal form Paul "this thing was not done in a corner".

This information is from official reports. I guess its bothering me that people who are supposed to care about people could get this far out of line. I'm not too bothered by cops who speed a little they never get a ticket, but when you get cops committing robberies and kidnapings etc. Its beyond unacceptable.

[dianaholberg]

In that case, I'm right about it being a "grey area" policy-wise?

Can you link to some of the published research?

Are the folks you are observing or working with participating in this or working to change it?

[teancum79]

The place I'm at is very opposed to this stuff. My supervisor is the one that hooked me up with a lot of the research. Here are some links to the sort of information I've been looking at.

www.cwla.org/programs/culture/memo050825race.pdf

www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/cultural/disporp/related.cfm

[dianaholberg]

I've skimmed the document at the first link, and my take on it is that the way the information was presented to you is rather liberal use of statistics. What I mean is that you presented racist behavior on the part of CPS, when that document suggests several possible causes for the longer stay of black children in foster care.

Personally, and without a lot of study, I put a lot of stock in the explanation that so many years of slavery during which the family structure among African-Americans was all but destroyed has rippled into these kinds of issues. As that research reports, 55% of black families are single-female-parent, and that's more than double any other racial group -- indicating a much lower sense of paternal responsibility.

If that's the case, could it be that what appears to some to be a "search for felons" among family members is instead a search for a family member interested in reunification?

[teancum79]

One of the reports had a quote from a judge who said that they look at many more levels of family members in African American family's than white.

There are a lot of factors that are not a direct result of racism (at least not by CPS) such as higher rates of AA men in prisons. but to have a policy that treats people differently based on race and to have the disproportional results tells me something is very wrong.

I'd not be two bothered if an ethnic group had a 5-10% higher rate of kids in foster care, but running between 200% and 400% can't be right.

[calyrelf]

That reminds me, in a way, of the police on the streets of my southwestern city. They will stop cars that carry hispanics 10 times as often as they stop those with anglo drivers and passengers.

It's sad that the color of one's skin can determine how much hassle they will endure from those in authority. The world should be color-blind, but it isn't.

I do believe you when you say they are scrutinized more thoroughly than whites. Perhaps if Barak Obama becomes president, that will slowly change. Although I voted for Hillary in the primary, I am not averse to voting for Obama in the general election.

Perhaps a black president will help alleviate this situation.

[teancum79]

Well if my teacher in race and ethnic relations is right Obama getting elected will result in a lot more raciest actions.
The more difference between two groups and the more power the other group has the more racism and prejudice you get.

The more African American people with lots of wealth fame and power the more those who won't accept them as people first will get out and fight.

I'm not a huge Obama fan mostly on issues like guns and taxes and I think that he could do a lot to help this country, but I also think that we are going to see racial tensions spike the latter part of this year and possibly stay high for a long time.

[calyrelf]

I personally think Hillary would be better than Obama, but I will vote for Obama if Hillary doesn't get the nomination (and that seems likely.)

The one person I would not vote for is McCain, even though I have met his wife and think she is very nice. He will not only give us 4 more years of Bush.....I think he'll be worse than Bush, if that's even possible. He's been my senator here in Arizona for many years, and I've seen his policies first hand in this state.......the last thing we need is McCain running the country. He's scary. We've lost over 4,000 men in Iraq already; with McCain at the helm it is possible that that will be a drop in the bucket.

Anyone who can actually laugh while singing "bomb bomb bomb Iran" is really scary.

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