Research has demonstrated that children and families of color are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system and frequently experience disparate outcomes. While children of all races are equally as likely to suffer from child abuse and neglect, the percentage of African-American children who enter and remain in out-of-home care is greater than their proportion in the population.
The complexity and significance of this issue points to the critical need for collaborative efforts to not only further study the factors that contribute to racial disproportionality and disparities in the child welfare system, but also to design and implement specific actions that courts and child welfare system stakeholders can take to reduce these inequities and ultimately improve outcomes for all children and families. The Courts Catalyzing Change: Achieving Equity and Fairness in Foster Care Initiative (CCC), funded by Casey Family Programs and supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), brings together judicial officers and other systems’ experts to set a national agenda for court-based training, research, and reform initiatives to reduce the disproportionate representation of children of color in dependency court systems. The Initiative, informed by existing research, will re-evaluate federal, state, and local policy and make recommendations for changes or improvements. The Initiative will identify and evaluate all decision points in the dependency court system to determine where specific action can be taken, and recommend strategies for court and systems change to reduce racial disproportionality and disparate treatment. Listed below is more information and research related to particular topics of the Initiative. Current Projects and News Courts Catalyzing Change Newsletter, Issue 3 Wisconsin ICWA Law Courts Catalyzing Change Newsletter, Issue 2 The Oregonian, African American and Native Americans More Likely to go to Foster Care Courts Catalyzing Change Newsletter, Issue 1 National CASA Association Newsletter on the Disproportionate Representation of Children of Color in Dependency Court Proceedings Project History, Mission and Goals
Project Chronology
NCJFCJ TODAY Magazine Article on the CCC Initiative National Agenda to Reduce Racial Disproportionality and Disparities Model Courts National Agenda Implementation Guide National Agenda National Agenda Implementation Tools Sample Worksheet to Address Local Implementation of the National Agenda Sample Action Plan Worksheet to Implement the National Agenda Race The Power of an Illusion DVD information Racial Disproportionality and Disparity Research and Data
CCC Project Research Report
Model Court State Level Disproportionality Analysis
Outcome Measures and Race
Casey Family Programs Disproportionality Fact Sheet National VAMC Model Court Data Resources Available to Download The Lens of Implicit Bias, Juvenile and Family Justice TODAY Magazine, NCJFCJ Outcomes and Lessons Learned: Casey's Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Reducing Disproportionality and Disparities for Children and Families of Color in the Child Welfare System Disproportionality in Child Protective Services: Statewide Reform Effort Begins with Examination of the Problem Racial Disproportionality in the U.S. Child Welfare System: Documentation, Research on Causes, and Promising Practices An Analysis of Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality and Disparity at the National, State, and County Levels Synthesis of Research on Disproportionality in Child Welfare: An Update GAO Report July 2007: African American Children in Foster Care, Additional HHS Assistance Needed to Help States Reduce the Proportion in Care Places to Watch: Promising Practices to Address Racial Disproportionality in Child Welfare Race Equity Review: Findings from a Qualitative Analysis of Racial Disproportionality and Disparity for African American Children and Families in Michigan's Child Welfare System Harvard Business Review article, "How (Un)ethical Are You?" Casey Family Programs website |
Courts Catalyzing Change (CCC) 
