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Keeping the White Family Together: Racial Disparities in the Out-of-Home Placements of Maltreated Children

Kaufman, Angela M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1306351829

Abstract Details

2011, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Sociology.
The likelihood of being removed from the home following a substantiated case of maltreatment is much higher for black youth than for their white counterparts. There are two competing explanations in the literature. The first is that black children experience more serious forms of maltreatment and have fewer resources to remedy the maltreatment situation through informal means than do white children. The second is that there is an underlying bias within the child welfare system, where discriminatory beliefs about the perceived threat and dangerousness of certain groups and their abilities to care for their children may contribute to black children being disproportionately removed from their homes. The present study examines whether race has an effect on child placement within the child welfare system after taking into account various risk factors associated with race and placement. It also examines whether the factors influencing placement are the same for white and black youth. Findings illustrate a racial disparity in out-of-home placements supporting both of the competing explanations in the current literature. Parental mental illness and emotional abuse as the maltreatment type are identified as factors operating differently for black and white children within the child welfare system. Overall, the present study finds that two separate processes seem to be at play in the placement decisions of maltreated youth, and concludes with possible explanations for this differential treatment.
Stephen Demuth, PhD (Advisor)
Jorge Chavez, PhD (Committee Member)
Alfred DeMaris, PhD (Committee Member)
58 p.
Sociology
child maltreatment; foster care; racial disparity; racial disproportionality; child victimization; child welfare system; out-of-home placement; child abuse; child welfare agencies; social services

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kaufman, A. M. (2011). Keeping the White Family Together: Racial Disparities in the Out-of-Home Placements of Maltreated Children [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1306351829

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kaufman, Angela. Keeping the White Family Together: Racial Disparities in the Out-of-Home Placements of Maltreated Children. 2011. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1306351829.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kaufman, Angela. "Keeping the White Family Together: Racial Disparities in the Out-of-Home Placements of Maltreated Children." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1306351829

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2011, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.