Wednesday

State to address high number of black, hispanic kids in foster care

The Department of Children and Families has figures showing that minority children make up the majority of children in the foster case system.

Black children make up nearly 36 percent of those in foster care, while making up just 11 percent of the state's overall child population, according to DCF.


Agency figures show a similar situation for Hispanic children who make up about 25 percent of the foster care population, but only 13 percent of the general population.


"As you go deeper down the spectrum,"
 Hector Glynn, executive director of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance told the Hartford Courant, "it actually gets darker."

In an effort to address the concerns, DCF officials have completed a two year pilot program in Waterbury to give them a statewide plan.


During the two-year program, officials met with children, parents and community group leaders to discuss how and why blacks and Hispanics end up in foster care. They worked out strategies to reverse the trend.


Glynn said many foster care workers do not appreciate that everything they do including how they interview a parent to what details they choose to note on home inspections can reflect their own economic or racial biases.


"Whether we recognize it or not, (caseworkers) are gatekeepers to the system," he said. "You can look at the numbers and see the problem exists. We are the ones doing it."


DCF officials pushed the Waterbury pilot program, in part, to address some of those issues. Officials chose Waterbury as the site because it was a large urban center with demographics similar to those found statewide, said
 Siobhan Trotman, a DCF program director who oversaw the program in conjunction with theAnnie E. Casey Foundation.

Based on meetings and discussions with parents, teachers and children in Waterbury, DCF officials introduced several measures there that they hope to replicate at other sites.


Among those measures are introducing more outreach and early intervention programs at schools with high numbers of minority students, and contracting out positions to make sure family members who might not speak English can still access DCF resources.
 

Deu 28:32-  Thy sons and thy daughters [shall be] given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail [with longing] for them all the day long: and [there shall be] no might in thine hand.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment