A broad coalition of Texans are working to reduce, and ultimately prevent, the disproportionate representation of, and disparate outcomes for, African-American children in the Texas child welfare system, in order to enhance safety, permanency and wellbeing for all children and families.
Those efforts were accelerated in 2005 when state legislation laid the foundation for comprehensive reform of Child Protective Services to address disproportionality and the issues associated with it. The state analyzed data related to child removals and other enforcement actions, reviewed policies and procedures, and developed plans to remedy disparities.
As a result, Child Protective Services is engaged in a number of program enhancements, including training enhancements for service delivery management staff, development of collaborative relationships with community partners, increased recruitment of diverse staff, and efforts to improve targeted recruitment of foster and adoptive families.
A presentation and fact sheet describe in more detail the promising efforts underway in Texas. In our recorded interviews, you will hear first hand the perspectives of state officials and child welfare stakeholders who are effecting these changes.
In a video interview, Joyce James, Assistant Commissioner for Child Protective Services in Texas, described her pioneering work on disproportionality and the rewards and challenges of engineering its reversal. Segments of that interview are available for download.
Also on video is Carolyne Rodriguez, who represents Casey Family Programs as Senior Director of the Texas State Strategy, Casey's statewide systems improvement efforts. Casey has supported the disproportionality remedies in Texas with technical assistance, project management, systems improvement methodologies and some financial resources. Segments of that interview are available for download.
Telephone interviews of several stakeholders provide "on-the-ground" and personal perspectives on this pioneering and emotionally demanding work.
Linda Wright is the CPS regional director for the Arlington Region, one of the first regions to undertake a comprehensive strategy to impact disproportionality. She describes her professional and personal journey working on disproportionality, and particularly the fundamental challenge and importance of addressing race and racism as part of the problem and part of the solution. (13:20):
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Virginia Flores works with Linda Wright as a disproportionality specialist for Child Protective Services in the Ft. Worth area of the Arlington Region. She describes the day-to-day work of impacting disproportionality through staff training and practice improvements, describing it as tough but rewarding work. (8:33):
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At one point, Gwendolyn Rachal's children were removed from her home by Texas CPS. Now, her children are back with her and she's advising CPS on how to effectively work with birth parents in the system, especially African American parents. Her experience with disproportionality could not be more personal, and her account of it could not be more moving. (8:03):
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Finally, Kenneth D. Thompson is a community leader who has served in an advisory role to disproportionality remediation efforts in Texas. He challenges the programs to effect measurable change in performance, insisting that awareness of the problem and good intentions are not enough.
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Identifying and Sharing Promising Practices
Texas is just one of 13 states/jurisdictions that participated in a "Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Disproportionality," sponsored by Casey Family Programs and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The goal: Identify practices, policies, and assumptions that contribute to disproportionality in the child welfare system, and engage agency staff, community partners and leaders in implementing small tests of change specific to impacting those problems.