Structures of Oppression in the U.S. Child Welfare System: Reflections on Administrative Barriers to Equity

Abstract

In the United States, child welfare reform efforts have dominated three decades of landscape. With glimmers of systemic promise and innumerable individual success stories, data suggest insufficient improvements, resulting in calls for transformation and even abolition. In this article, the authors illustrate structures of oppression that bolster the system’s tentacles, in regulating family life, contributing to racial disparities, reinforcing economic hardships, and supporting policies of family separation. Some of the structures take the form of practices, policies, laws or regulations. Individually and collectively, these structures may serve to oppress and harm those that the child welfare system intends to help. In this article, we include mandated reporting, substantiation decisions, central registries, decision-making processes, background checks, ongoing service delivery frameworks, conservative interpretations of confidentiality statutes, and how immigration status interplays with child welfare. Each of these structures could warrant an individual article, delving into the inner workings of how each oppresses families and the professionals who work with them. We also recognize that there are other structures of oppression that this article will not address. We encourage other scholars to not only continue the identification of oppressive structures, but to also work collaboratively, to generate solutions that dismantle these mechanisms that continue to perpetuate harm and unnecessary family separation.

Commentary on Kempe, the Next 50 Years

“…Our systems of care to support underrepresented people, families, and communities are broken, and the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the vast disparities including related to illness and death based on race, income, and living environment (Maness et al, 2021). Despite three decades of child welfare reform efforts, these disproportionalities in the US child welfare system have resulted in structures of oppression in the form of practices, policies, laws, and regulations (Merkel-Holguin, et al, 2022). There remains a lack of common consensus regarding how best to balance the role of child welfare with community services.…”

Using the Core Components of a Public Health Framework to Create a Child and Family Well-being System: Example from a National Effort, Thriving Families, Safer Children

“…Current child welfare data suggests that 61% of substantiated cases are a result of child neglect (USDHHS, 2021), arguably a population of families who could benefit from concrete and economic supports (e.g., housing vouchers, tax credits, cash transfers) to avoid child welfare entry. Research shows that not only are outcomes associated with child welfare involvement poor (Merkel-Holguin et al, 2022), but that child welfare intervention disproportionately affects communities of color (Kim et al, 2018). Numerous calls for system reform have been made yet few efforts have resulted in re-design of the child welfare system.…”

“…For example, a recent estimate from Child Trends suggests that combined spending (i.e., federal, state, local) on child welfare in state fiscal year 2018 was approximately $30 billion (Rosinsky et al, 2021). Some have argued that child protection response can exacerbate instead of improve family circumstances (see Merkel-Holguin et al, 2022).…”

How Should Race and Resource Context Influence How Neglect Is Considered by Clinicians?

“…Mandatory reporting 1 has been recognized as a structure of oppression, especially for Black and Indigenous populations. 9 Mandated reporters may fear that they will be sued for not reporting suspected child abuse, as some states allow such tort claims. 10 This fear of liability places tremendous pressure on mandated reporters and may increase the chances that a report is made when it is not necessary.…”