Child protection standards in Minnesota only exist for the initial maltreatment report. All other decision points, for example when to investigate, when to take a case to court, and when to remove children or return them home, are informed by non-mandatory and often insufficiently detailed Department of Human Services Guidelines.
As a result every county, unit, and caseworker are making decisions based on their own experience and local values. This means that families are being treated differently depending on where they live, which additionally opens the door to unequal treatment based on race.
To be clear, decades of research show that poverty drives racial disparities in child welfare much more than caseworker bias. However we still need to address every area where bias may be affecting decision-making. That’s not possible without standards for every step in the child welfare continuum.
Listen to further analysis on this topic with Rich Gehrman in this week’s podcast, here or wherever you hear your favorite shows.
Read the transcript of the podcast here.