“The existence of disproportionality throughout the child welfare system is well known; however there is less information regarding the problem in the ‘front-end’ of the child welfare system. There are four major front-end decision-making points: referral of a case to the system, investigation of a referral, substantiation of the referral, and removal of a child from the home. This structured review of the literature, commissioned by the Bay Area Social Services Consortium, examines the nature of disproportionality in the front-end of the child welfare system. The first section outlines the problem, and describes several theories about its cause. The second section describes interventions that have been developed based upon those theories, and assesses the effectiveness of the interventions. The report concludes with a section on the implications of the study’s findings for research and practice.” – Description from National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning Weekly Update CONTENTS Introduction Overview of Disproportionality in Child Welfare Referral Investigation Substantiation Out-of-home Placement Theories of Disproportionality Bias and Inconsistencies Differential Needs of Families of Color System-Related Factors Interventions to Address Disproportionality Interventions Related to Bias Risk Assessment Tools Family Group Conferencing Strategies to Increase Workers’ Cultural Competence Interventions Related to Poverty and Differential Needs Differential Response Collaborations with Neighborhood-based Services Home Visitation Services Increasing Involvement of Fathers in Child Welfare Services Interventions Related to Systems Problems Leadership and Sustained Commitment to Reducing Disproportionality Organizational Re-structuring: Vertical Case Management Collaborations with Racial/Ethnic Communities Evaluating the Available Evidence Implications Implications for Practice Implications for Research Summary References Appendix: BASSC Search Protocol
