Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, USDOJ, OJJDP: Children of color are disproportionately represented in the United States foster care system. 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/Latino children are disproportionately represented. This Technical Assistance Bulletin presents disproportionality rates for all 50 states. Starting in 1997, the Adoption and Safe Families Act (P.L. 105-89) required child welfare agencies to submit data regarding children in foster care to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). Released annually, the AFCARS data include the number of children who have entered foster care, the number who have exited foster care, and the number who are still in foster care at the end of the year. The dataset also contains the race of each child. The 2007 Government Accountability Office report identified every state’s disproportionality index using 2004 population estimates from the U.S. Census and 2004 AFCARS data. We have duplicated these calculations using the same sources for 2000 and have included 2010 data for comparison. Some states have substantially reduced their disproportionality. Other states show slight increases or decreases, or have remained consistent in the ten-year time span. Link to TA Bulletin  Michigan is said to have disproportionality about average for African Americans, better than average for Latinos and no disproportionality for Native Americans.


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