In her book, Shattered Bonds, Dorothy Roberts claims “if you came [to dependency courts] with no preconceptions about the purpose of the child welfare system, you would have to conclude that it is an institution designed to monitor, regulate, and punish poor black families” (6). Roberts uses this basis to build supporting arguments throughout her book. One of her best arguments is supported with the statistical facts including nearly half of white children placed in foster care are returned to their household within 3 months, while very few Black children every do. Also foster care is usually a long time situation for Black children when compared to Caucasians where it is usually short termed (19). This was shocking because Robert describes how the system tends to do everything in their power to have the Caucasian children to receive help in their homes, while removing a Black child from their home is usually the first option. Roberts stated “caseworkers put the least effort in keeping Black foster children in contact with their parents and return them home” (21). I was very surprised on how the statics show the how the Black children were never the priority and often got overlooked for the white foster children.
A really good point Robinson made was how “neglect is usually better classified as child maltreatment defined by poverty rather than maltreatment caused by poverty” (33). She states many departments’ focuses on the poor families and many times the middle class and rich are overlooked. If there is already a “flag” on these families then the government/social workers were more likely to dig deeper and react quicker and harsher to the situations. Through the small portion of Robert’s book I have a better understanding of the discrepancies between the different races of children in the system. Sarah B.
Graded Reply
ReplyDeleteFirst off, great job! I think you brought up some of her most convincing evidence and explained your thought well.
Just as you stated being surprised by many of the statistics, I was very shocked as well. There clearly seems to be a racial bias in the child welfare system, which can be noticed in the number of white children versus black children who receive in home help from social workers. Another point of yours that I wanted to touch on was the definition of neglect. I think this definition leads to more black families being scrutinized for how they care for their children because difficult situations that many black families deal with every day. In addition, it seems that a large portion of the families in poverty are black.
Although, I think you did a good job of bringing up convincing evidence, I wanted to know if you thought any of Roberts’ ideas were lacking in evidence. Or if you did not think any of her ideas lacked sufficient support, how would you compare Roberts’ book to the Foster Care film we watched in class on Friday? In my mind, I can’t think of any of lacking arguments made by Roberts. However, I think that Roberts has a very negative view of the foster care system and the video we watched had an extremely positive view on foster care. I don’t know about you but I am glad we got to see both of those views of the foster care system.
Overall, great thoughts and reflection on the first section of Roberts’ book!
Jen
Graded Reply
ReplyDeleteI also found it shocking that nearly half of white children placed in foster are returned to their household within three months, and that very few Black children are returned to their families. The child welfare system seems to give White families resources need to improve their condition so that they are able to keep their children. However, the first action of the child welfare system when dealing with Black families appear to take the children out of the home and place them in foster care. These two practices are very unequal and unfair to Black families. With this information, I think Roberts is right about how the child welfare system discriminates against Black children.
I also agree with your second point that Roberts makes about how “neglect is usually better classified as child maltreatment defined by poverty rather than maltreatment caused by poverty” (33). I believe this is the root of the discrepancy between how black and white children are treated by child welfare services. If child welfare has the view that maltreatment is defined by poverty, I think they’re more likely to take the child away from the family. If they had the view that maltreatment is caused by poverty, then they might be more likely to give the family resources needed to overcome poverty so that they can better care for their child.