Poverty or Racism? A Re-Analysis of Briggs et al. 2022

Abstract

Purpose: This paper presents a re-analysis of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) data presented by Briggs et al. (2022). Methods: We review five components of that article: The aims, variables, analytic strategy, analysis, and conclusions. Results: We conclude that several of the NCANDS variables used are invalid at the national level, and that this is sufficient to call the research into question. We find concerning issues in analytic strategy and analysis as well, many stemming from a failure to account for the serious underreporting of services in NCANDS, and the wide variability in data quality and consistency across states. We also found what we consider to be issues with their statistical analysis. Discussion: The reanalysis presented in this article shows no pattern of disparate within Child Protective Services (CPS) outcomes by race and, therefore, no support for the Briggs et al. claim of pervasive anti-Black racism within the CPS system.

Adolescents with substance use referred to child protective services: Does substance use treatment prevent foster care entry?

“…Nonetheless, the finding that adolescents in more predominantly non-Hispanic White communities have lower odds of foster care entry than their peers, even after adjusting for other family and community factors, builds upon growing research on contextual factors that may contribute to racial disproportionality and disparities in child welfare (LaBrenz et al, 2021(LaBrenz et al, , 2023. Recent studies have focused on the role of poverty and socio-economic disparities and increased prevalence of child welfare contact (Drake et al, 2023), while other scholars have argued that systemic racism in CPS is rampant (Dettlaff et al, 2020;LaBrenz et al, 2022). Our findings highlight differences in foster care entry based on county-level racial composition, with adolescents in counties with predominantly non-Hispanic White individuals less likely to enter care.…”

Public Benefit Programs and Differential Associations With Child Maltreatment by Race and Ethnicity

“…Debate continues as to how much disparities in CPS involvement result from disparate risk (ie, appropriate needbased reporting) vs bias in reporting. [29][30][31][32][33][34] To the extent that bias in CPS reporting or racism in CPS policies and practices exists, 6,29 it could explain or have influenced our results.…”

The future of childhood maltreatment research: Diversity and equity-informed perspectives for inclusive methodology and social justice

“…However, this side argues that Black children experience higher rates of poverty and sociodemographic and health-related risk factors (e.g., lower maternal age and educational attainment, higher rates of paternal absence, less usage of prenatal care, and higher birth abnormalities). Proponents of this side argue that when these factors are controlled in large national datasets, Black children are statistically no more likely (and may even be less likely) to be reported to CPS than White children (Barth et al, 2021;Drake et al, 2023;Putnam-Hornstein et al, 2013). Side 2 further asserts that because poverty rather than race is the main correlate of CPS surveillance and allegations of maltreatment, new social policies should focus on reducing socioeconomic disparities that render Black children more vulnerable to entering child welfare in the first place (Barth et al, 2021;Drake et al, 2023).…”

“…Both sides of the debate converge in agreement that more research is needed and that the literature specifically lacks a sufficient corpus of studies on Black or Latinx children, much less AIAN children or those with multiracial and intersectional identities (Drake et al, 2023;Hanna, 2021;Tajima et al, 2022). Both sides also agree that unmeasured aspects of racialized poverty and economic stratification render many minoritized children at disproportionate risk for maltreatment and other childhood adversities (Barth et al, 2021;Drake et al, 2023;Hanna, 2021;Tajima et al, 2022). Racial, ethnic, and intersectional identities are not variables that can statistically controlled (APA, 2023b).…”

“…One line stems from researchers in clinical and developmental psychology who continue to consider prospective assessment of childhood maltreatment, largely drawn from court records and child welfare data, to be the gold standard methodology, in contrast to adults' retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment (Danese & Widom, 2020Francis et al, 2023). The other line of work stems from scholars in social work, economics, and other disciplines than psychology who focus on the role of racism in the child welfare system (e.g., Barth et al, 2021;Cénat et al, 2021;Detlaff et al, 2020;Drake et al, 2023;Tajima et al, 2022), with the most extreme factions advocating to abolish the child welfare system entirely.…”