Training Overview
Child welfare system exposure to parents and children is traumatic on multiple levels. Trauma is inflicted by punitive systems oversight and sadly manifests across generations. Themes identified as trauma are living in poverty, persistent fear of family disruption, and ongoing anxiety during interactions with authorities. Many of our established social and human services have been structured based on the insidious nature of racism and oppression. The lived experiences of child welfare system-impacted parents are rarely considered from a social justice perspective. Parents and children endure the oversight of the child welfare system in myriad ways, and these experiences usually vary based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The presence of authorities with the power to disrupt one’s family is a pervasive and enduring trauma. Whilst acknowledging racism is embedded in many human service systems, it follows that child welfare system policies and practices are by design intended to admonish parents for improper care of their children. Child, parent, and family assessments are made without any consideration of family strengths, resilience, or the indisputable fact that systemic racism is the culprit of sub-optimal parenting. It is critical to understand that lower socioeconomic status cannot be disentangled from lived experiences of racism and oppression which results in pervasive systems oversight. Racialized poverty-related family surveillance is harmful to minoritized families in that they are traumatized whilst they navigate oppressive oversight and pervasive codified racism. This presentation will encourage reflection on the notions that racism is the mechanism by which child welfare system racial disproportionality is evidenced through policies underpinned by design flaws, policy-mandated reporting, and placement options. Consequently, racial disparities are grounded and proliferate in systemically oppressive organizations and ultimately pose a threat to the public health of society. Qualitative data will be presented in the historical context of systemic racism that underpins the treatment of Black families in the U.S.