February 9 Webcast
Child and Family Policy Forum
Child Welfare, Race, and Disparity: New Findings, New Opportunities

Racial disparity in the child welfare system is an increasingly pressing problem for policymakers, practitioners, and advocates. The fact that Black children enter foster care at higher rates than White children and remain in care longer is well established—but not so well understood.

Efforts to understand and describe the Black/White placement gap have given rise to a new set of questions. Does the magnitude of the gap differ in different localities? Do places that have high disparity rates share other characteristics? Are factors such as family structure, unemployment, and parental education levels related in any way to disparity rates? If so, how should what we learn about where disparity is greatest influence public investments designed to promote greater equity for children and families?

Resources

• Presentation slides from the forum(.PDF)
• Child Welfare and Racial Disparity: Taking Stock - Fred Wulczyn
• Research Is Action: Disparity, Poverty, and the Need for New Knowledge
• Click here to download the webcast in high-definition(.MP4, 1 GB)

Panelists

• Fred Wulczyn, Senior Research Fellow, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
• Eric Fenner, Managing Director, Strategic Consulting, Casey Family Programs
• John Mattingly, Senior Fellow, Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Lonnie Snowden, Professor, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

Moderator

• Matthew Stagner, Executive Director, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago