Introduction: Race, racism and child welfare: Perspectives from youth, parents, advocates and scholars

• Published date: 01 April 2023
• Author: Tricia N. Stephens,Vicki Lens,Jana Singer
• Date: 01 April 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12713

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Introduction: Race, racism and child welfare:

Perspectives from youth, parents, advocates

and scholars

Tricia N. Stephens

1

|Vicki Lens

1

|Jana Singer

2

1

Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, New York City, New York, USA

2

University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Correspondence

Jana Singer, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Email: jsinger@law.umaryland.edu

We, Vicki, Jana and I (Tricia) start this issue with our why, the reasons for our commitment to this work. Our reason

for shaping this special issue in the way that we did—in particular, our decision to center the voices of those most

affected by the current family regulation system. We believe our why will resonate strongly with what you see in

your work, and we hope this special issue will stimulate your purpose and your why for change.

I sat in the small, grass-roots organization in a large Northeastern city week after week, allowed to do so by the

administratorsand parents who together ran this efficient outfit.The space, a ground floor apartment in a large public

housing building,was quiet and unassumingfrom the outside. Inside, people,mostly women with skin the warmestsha-

des of honey throughdeepest mahogany, bustled aroundbusily. Hailing from all corners of the city,some further, they

were connectedby a defining experience.A shared trauma. Each had been investigatedby the local child welfare authori-

ties. Most had had their children removed from their care and placed in foster care with kinship (family)providers or

strangers for some period of time. Many had reunified. More than cared to admit,had had their parental rights termi-

nated, a woundreflected deeply in their eyeswhenever they spoke of their children.In this space, each womanhad pur-

pose and was heavily invested in her work. Together they werechanging the system that had hurt their heartsin ways

decadesof exposure to hardship and trauma hadnever accomplished. As the monthswent by, I came to understand why

they workedso hard. Every so often, the door to this havenwould open tentatively and a new facewould appear. Uncer-

tain and often lookingvery afraid, always in skin that containedmoderate to generous servings of melanin,they would

whisper their reasonfor seeking out the Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP) into the ear of whichever woman

approached them first.She would nod as she listened, and, importantly,give that new parent (almost always a mother,

but occasionallya father), a warm embrace,information, advice,a gentle smile and always an invitationto return. Beyond

the individual taskscarried out each day, a greater mission was being pursued. Together, these parents,once told they

had nothingto offer, had helped tocreate a space where they, andother parents like them,could feel like they belong.

As a young social worker,I had made calls to the state central registrywhen there were concerns of possible mal-

treatmentwithin a family. I, like manyothers, knew that the child welfaresystem was flawed, evenas I made those calls. I

alreadyknew that calls were more readilyaccepted whenever I identifiedthe race of a family as Black.Once, I had a white

social work supervisorat a hospital where I worked tell me not to make a call regarding a white family because in her

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12713

© 2023 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2023;61:225–228. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 225