Racial Disproportionality & Disparate Outcomes in the Child Welfare System... Reflections and Future Possibilities O

1. Racial Disproportionality & Disparate Outcomesin the Child Welfare System...Reflections and Future PossibilitiesOronde A. MillerCasey Family Programs DMC Resource Center Fifth Annual Conference November 30 – December 1, 2006 Holiday Inn Downtown Des Moines, Iowa

2. Our Personal Story • Rural Ohio, 1970 • Ultimatum and coercion • Khari Miller • Struggle, determination, aloneness, confusion • Oronde Miller • Foster care • Separation • Adoption – Part 1 • Disruption & Emergency placement • Adoption – Part 2, 1974 2

3. Our Personal Story… Fast Forward • Cancer… Hodgkin's Lymphoma, 2000 • Diagnosis & Treatment • Coordinating hospice • Assumptions and questions • Keeping siblings together • Medical records and family history • Re-introduction to child welfare • National Center on Permanency for African American Children, 2000 • Teen Mothers Program, 2002 • Child Welfare League of America, 2003 • Institute for Family & Child Well-Being, 2004 • Casey Family Programs, 2005/2006 3

4. Public Agency’s Success & Failure Children • “Permanency” for children • Commitment to siblings • Can we be thankful, reflective and critical simultaneously? Parents • Voluntary relinquishment • Turned away • Guilt, Regret, Powerlessness … Further exploration of this notion of long-term spiritual, psychological, economic & sociopolitical impact of child welfare involvement on individuals and communities 4

5. Role of Structural Racism • Definition of Structural Racism: …the complex ways in which historical oppression, culture, ideology, political economy, public policy and institutional practices interact to produce forms of racial sorting that reproduce and reinforce a hierarchy of color that privileges whiteness and marginalizes blackness. Definition developed by The Aspen Institute. Retrieved online at: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/c.huLWJeMRKpH/b.613731/k.DD53/Project_on_Structural_Racism_and_Community_Revitalization.htm 5 Casey Family Programs

6. Role of Structural Racism (cont.) The Structural Racism lens allows us to see and understand… • …the racial legacy of our past • What is the historical context? • …how racism persists in our national policies, institutional practices, and cultural representations • What is the present-day manifestation? • …how racism is transmitted and either amplified or mitigated through public, private, and community institutions • What is the role of institutions? • …how individuals internalize and respond to racialized structures. • What is the response of individuals? Based on ideas shared in the publication Structural Racism and Community Building; published by The Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change. June 2004. p.12. 6 Casey Family Programs

7. Critical Issues Related to Eliminating Racial Disproportionality & Disparate Outcomes • Child “Protection” vs. Family Preservation • Role of child welfare… punitive action vs. family support • Resolving the tension… Is it a choice or a balance? • Involvement of Elders, Parents, Youth and Communities • Case planning and decision-making process • Ongoing systems improvement efforts… practice, policy, legislation • Termination of Parental Rights • Cultural / ethical / moral legitimacy of a concept • Implications for family preservation efforts and permanency considerations • Critical Role of Judges • “I don’t think it’s my place to second-guess the recommendations of the child welfare professionals… they are the experts and they know what’s best.” 7

8. The Work Moving Forward… • Organizational Culture and Values • Worldview of the agency • Assumptions about families and communities • Subjective nature of our work? • How much support and assistance is enough? Who decides? • Child Welfare Practice and Policy • Working with families and communities… Practice and policy • Internal system improvements... Coordination and policy • Alternatives to formal child welfare intervention • Nature of support before, during and after formal intervention • Multi-Systems Coordination • Child welfare; juvenile justice; education; comprehensive health care; etc. • Shared worldview and values? 8

9. The Work Moving Forward… • Starting somewhere • Moving forward • Consensus is not needed. • What can you do by next Tuesday? • Did it work? • Build the case. • Share it with others. 9

10. Tenets of Courageous Conversations • Speak your truth. • Expect and accept non-closure. • Experience discomfort. • Stay engaged. Tenets of Courageous Conversations taken from Knowing Who You Are E-Learning Casey Family Programs 10

11. Courageous Conversations:Important Considerations • Understanding the role of a facilitator • Understanding how to deal with conflict • Creating a safe space for people to address their issues • Developing an ability to read dynamics in the room • Recognizing conflict and addressing it in a timely fashion • Taking care of yourself, the facilitator 11

12. We Can All Make a Difference! • Birth families can make a difference! • Youth in care can make a difference! • Foster care alum can make a difference! • Our communities can make a difference! • Resource families can make a difference! • Human service professionals can make a difference!

13. Are we satisfied? We can create an equitable & just system of family and child well-being. It can happen… in this country and in our lifetime! It must begin and continue with us as individuals… committing to work with one another! It’s Healing Time!

14. Contact Information: Oronde A. Miller Director, General Systems Improvement Casey Family Programs 1808 Eye Street, NW – Fifth Floor Washington, DC 20006 Phone: (202) 728-2015 Email: omiller@casey.org 14 Casey Family Programs