The 2020 Department for Children and Families Series: Babies in the River

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal,Kansas
• Citation: Vol. 89 No. 6 Pg. 22
• Pages: 22
• Publication year: 2020

The 2020 Department for Children and Families Series: Babies in the River No. 89 J. Kan. Bar Assn 6, 22 (2020) Kansas Bar Journal August, 2020

July 2020

by Shanelle Dupree

There is a story of a village that has a peculiar problem of babies being found in the river. The townspeople are frantically rescuing the babies from tragedy. Everyone who visits and lives in the town spends all their time dramatically saving these vulnerable babies. The situation is simply terrible. The townspeople are tired and always discontent, nevertheless they continue to work hard to keep the babies safe. One day, an outsider comes to the village. She stares at the villagers and then she stares at the river and says nothing. The townspeople ask, “Don’t you care about the babies? Come into the river and help us!” She looks at them and says, “No—I won’t be joining you. I’m going to travel upstream and stop the person who keeps throwing children in the river.”

The federal government enacted legislation called Family First Prevention Services (FFPS). Family First Prevention Services makes sweeping changes to the child welfare system.^[1] Kansas is one of the first states to take advantage of FFPS and serves as a leader in "traveling upstream" and providing preventative services for children and families. Prevention is key as noted in the story above. We can impact families by providing needed services to safely keep children connected with their families. However, there is more to the story.

Before the woman ventured upstream to stop the person who was throwing children in the river, she noticed something. She asked a townsperson, "Why are most of the babies in the river black and brown?" Startled by the question, the townsperson shrugged their shoulders and said, "It's just the way things are. "

A child welfare system that produces equal experiences and outcomes for all Kansas families regardless of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status will help all Kansans. Racial disparities and disproportionality and their effect on child welfare are areas for improvement within our system as acknowledged by countless government agencies and public policy institutions studying the issue and recommending various solutions.^[2] Black and brown children being over-represented in the child welfare system is not a Kansas problem, it is happening nationwide.^[3]

The world is engaged in an ethical reckoning of how systems embedded in the foundation of our nation affect people of color, specifically African Americans. The consciousness of the world was jolted into action by the public slaying of George Floyd and countless other Black lives snuffed out too soon. Although much attention is currently focused on the criminal justice system, the child welfare system has parallel outcomes. Black and Native American children are twice as likely to end up in foster care compared to white children.^[4]The removal of a child from a home is an extremely traumatic experience, even when necessary. The effects of removals on communities of color deserve a rigorous examination so we can authentically answer the important question: Why are there more black and brown babies in the river?

As the agency embarks upon the amazing opportunities of being proactive versus reactive, we must have courageous conversations to maximize its potential. Understanding how and why racial disparities matter within the child welfare system and how it relates to prevention services will be the purpose of this...