Our recent survey on racism in child welfare prompted a number of thoughtful replies, shown here.
Most commenters recommended trauma-focused child development education for families with children prenatal to three, plus an expanded array of services focused on keeping families together, delivered by diverse, interdisciplinary teams.
We asked how to keep children at the center of the system. One responder recommended more efforts to keep children in their communities, while another said that the public needs to be more awake to the extent of child abuse and increase pressure on the system to better protect children.
To address racism, ongoing conversations were recommended at all levels, along with a question whether services for white families focus on keeping them intact whereas removing children is a first response for Black families.
Watch future blogs for our own reflections on these readers’ views.