To transform child welfare, take race out of the equation

In this eye-opening talk about the impact of race and neighborhood on foster-care decisions, social worker Jessica Pryce shares a promising solution to help child welfare agencies make bias-free assessments about when to remove children from their families. “Let's work together to build a system that wants to make families stronger instead of pulling them apart,” Pryce says.

I want you to imagine that you are
a Child Protective Services worker.

And you have to respond
to a report of child abuse.

You walk into a home, unannounced,
unexpected, certainly uninvited.

The first thing you see is a mattress
in the middle of the room, on the floor.

Three kids lying on it, asleep.

There's a small table nearby
with a couple of ashtrays,

empty beer cans.

Large rat traps are set in the corner,

not too far from where
the kids lie asleep.

So you make a note.

A part of your job is walking
through the entire home.

So you start with the kitchen,
where there's very little food.

You notice another mattress
in the bedroom, on the floor,

that the mother shares
with her infant child.

Now, generally, at this point,
two things may happen.

The children are deemed unsafe
and removed from the home,

and placed in state custody
for a specified period of time.

Or the children remain with their family

and the child welfare system
provides help and support.

When I was a Child
Protective Services worker,

I saw things like this all the time.

Some far better, some far worse.

I asked you to imagine
yourself in that home,

because I wonder what crossed your mind.

What guides your decisions?

What's going to impact
your opinion of that family?

What race, ethnicity,
did you think the family was?

I want you to realize
that if those children were white,

it is more likely that their family
stays together after that visit.

Research done at
the University of Pennsylvania

found that white families, on average,
have access to more help and more support

from the child welfare system.

And their cases are less likely
to go through a full investigation.

But on the other hand,
if those kids are black,

they are four times
more likely to be removed,

they spend longer periods
of time in foster care,

and it's harder to find them
a stable foster placement.

Foster care is meant to be
an immediate shelter of protection

for kids who are at high risk.

But it's also a confusing
and traumatic exit from the family.

Research done at
the University of Minnesota

found that kids
who went through foster care

had more behavioral problems
and internalized issues

than kids who remain with their families
while receiving help and support.

The scenario I mentioned earlier
is not uncommon.

A single mother,
living in low-income housing

with her four children.

And the rats make it
almost impossible to keep food,

let alone fresh food in the home.

Does that mother deserve
to have her children taken from her?

Emma Ketteringham,
a family court attorney,

says that if you live
in a poor neighborhood,

then you better be a perfect parent.

She says that we place unfair,
often unreachable standards

on parents who are raising their kids
with very little money.

And their neighborhood and ethnicity

impact whether or not
their kids are removed.

In the two years I spent
on the front lines of child welfare,

I made high-stakes decisions.

And I saw firsthand
how my personal values impacted my work.

Now, as social work faculty
at Florida State University,

I lead an institute

that curates the most innovative
and effective child welfare research.

And research tells us that there are
twice as many black kids in foster care,

twenty-eight percent,

than there are in the general
population, 14 percent.

And although there are
several reasons why,

I want to discuss one reason today:

implicit bias.

Let's start with "implicit."

It's subconscious,
something you're not aware of.

Bias -- those stereotypes and attitudes

that we all have
about certain groups of people.

So, implicit bias is what lurks
in the background

of every decision that we make.

So how can we fix it?

I have a promising solution
that I want to share.

Now, in almost every state,

there are high numbers of black kids
going into foster care.

But data revealed that Nassau County,

a community in New York,

had managed to decrease
the number of black kids being removed.

And in 2016, I went
into that community with my team

and led a research study,

discovering the use
of blind removal meetings.

This is how it works.

A case worker responds
to a report of child abuse.

They go out to the home,

but before the children are removed,

the case worker
must come back to the office

and present what they found.

But here's the distinction:

When they present to the committee,

they delete names, ethnicity,
neighborhood, race,

all identifiable information.

They focus on what happened,
family strength, relevant history

and the parents' ability
to protect the child.

With that information,
the committee makes a recommendation,

never knowing the race of the family.

Blind removals have made
a drastic impact in that community.

In 2011, 57 percent of the kids
going into foster care were black.

But after five years of blind removals,
that is down to 21 percent.

(Applause)

Here's what we learned
from talking to some of the case workers.

"When a family has a history
with the department,

many of us hold that history against them,

even if they're trying
to do things differently."

"When I see a case from a certain
apartment building,

neighborhood or zip code,

I just automatically think the worst."

"Child welfare is very subjective,
because it's an emotional field.

There's no one who doesn't have
emotions around this work.

And it's very hard to leave
all of your stuff at the door

when you do this work.

So let's take the subjectivity
of race and neighborhood out of it,

and you might get different outcomes."

Blind removals seem to be
bringing us closer

to solving the problem of implicit bias
in foster-care decisions.

My next step is figuring out

how to use artificial intelligence
and machine learning

to bring this project to scale

and make it more accessible
to other states.

I know we can transform child welfare.

We can hold organizations accountable

to developing the social consciousness
of their employees.

We can hold ourselves accountable

to making sure our decisions
are driven by ethics and safety.

Let's imagine a child welfare system
that focuses on partnering with parents,

empowering families,

and no longer see poverty as failure.

Let's work together to build a system

that wants to make families stronger
instead of pulling them apart.

Thank you.

(Applause) (Cheering)