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

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

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

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

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Three kids lying on it, asleep.

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

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empty beer cans.

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Large rat traps are set in the corner,

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not too far from where
the kids lie asleep.

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So you make a note.

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

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

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

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that the mother shares
with her infant child.

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

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The children are deemed unsafe
and removed from the home,

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

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Or the children remain with their family

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and the child welfare system
provides help and support.

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When I was a Child
Protective Services worker,

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I saw things like this all the time.

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Some far better, some far worse.

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I asked you to imagine
yourself in that home,

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because I wonder what crossed your mind.

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What guides your decisions?

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

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

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

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

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Research done at
the University of Pennsylvania

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

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from the child welfare system.

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

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

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they are four times
more likely to be removed,

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they spend longer periods
of time in foster care,

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

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Foster care is meant to be
an immediate shelter of protection

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for kids who are at high risk.

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

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Research done at
the University of Minnesota

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found that kids
who went through foster care

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had more behavioral problems
and internalized issues

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

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The scenario I mentioned earlier
is not uncommon.

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A single mother,
living in low-income housing

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with her four children.

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And the rats make it
almost impossible to keep food,

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let alone fresh food in the home.

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

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Emma Ketteringham,
a family court attorney,

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says that if you live
in a poor neighborhood,

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then you better be a perfect parent.

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She says that we place unfair,
often unreachable standards

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

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And their neighborhood and ethnicity

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impact whether or not
their kids are removed.

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

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I made high-stakes decisions.

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

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Now, as social work faculty
at Florida State University,

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I lead an institute

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that curates the most innovative
and effective child welfare research.

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

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twenty-eight percent,

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than there are in the general
population, 14 percent.

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And although there are
several reasons why,

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I want to discuss one reason today:

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implicit bias.

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Let's start with "implicit."

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

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Bias -- those stereotypes and attitudes

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that we all have
about certain groups of people.

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So, implicit bias is what lurks
in the background

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of every decision that we make.

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So how can we fix it?

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I have a promising solution
that I want to share.

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Now, in almost every state,

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

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But data revealed that Nassau County,

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a community in New York,

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

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

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and led a research study,

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discovering the use
of blind removal meetings.

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This is how it works.

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A case worker responds
to a report of child abuse.

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They go out to the home,

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but before the children are removed,

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the case worker
must come back to the office

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and present what they found.

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But here's the distinction:

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When they present to the committee,

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they delete names, ethnicity,
neighborhood, race,

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all identifiable information.

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They focus on what happened,
family strength, relevant history

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and the parents' ability
to protect the child.

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With that information,
the committee makes a recommendation,

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never knowing the race of the family.

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Blind removals have made
a drastic impact in that community.

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

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

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(Applause)

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

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"When a family has a history
with the department,

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many of us hold that history against them,

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

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

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neighborhood or zip code,

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I just automatically think the worst."

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

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

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

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when you do this work.

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

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and you might get different outcomes."

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Blind removals seem to be
bringing us closer

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

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My next step is figuring out

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how to use artificial intelligence
and machine learning

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to bring this project to scale

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and make it more accessible
to other states.

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I know we can transform child welfare.

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We can hold organizations accountable

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to developing the social consciousness
of their employees.

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We can hold ourselves accountable

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

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

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empowering families,

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and no longer see poverty as failure.

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Let's work together to build a system

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

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Thank you.

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(Applause) (Cheering)