Communities of color are represented in Minnesota’s child protection and foster care caseloads at roughly twice the national average.
Recently, Safe Passage asked African American, Native American, and Hmong leaders to share their perspectives on this problem with us in several listening sessions. Not surprisingly, we heard that the system is perceived primarily as a threat to take away their communities’ children.
We also discovered common goals, including to protect children, strengthen families, educate adults about child maltreatment, and create services tailored to each community.
Businesses know that their customers cluster into discrete niches, and develop messaging around the needs and interests of each.
Similarly, we must design child protection communications and services to connect with specific communities. To accomplish this, counties need to engage community leaders in program development.