Poster #45 - Racial disproportionality in foster care exits to permanency: Analysis of the Louisiana child welfare system

• In Event: Poster Session 16

Abstract

Disproportionate child welfare cases involve youth from racial minority backgrounds and can result in biased practices and policies which further minoritize youth of color (Akin, 2012; Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2021). The current study utilizes child welfare agency data to examine disproportionalities in the length of time spent in foster care and aims to explore racial disparities in public child welfare practice. Data analyzed were foster youth entering care between FY 2016 and 2019 (N = 13,301) in the Louisiana state administrative child welfare system. Length of stay in care was calculated as the number of months from the foster care entry date to the exit date [(Total days)/30.4375], or when data were extracted. The sample included Black and African American (n = 5,581), White non-Hispanic (n = 6,833), and multi-Race (n = 499) youth. Native American or Alaskan Native youth (n = 32), and Asian-American and Pacific Islander youth comprised the remaining cases (n = 45) where race was indicated. The sample gender ratio was balanced, and youth tended to have one episode of care (i.e., the first). White and Multi-race youth were typically younger than the median age (5 years), while Black, Native American/Alaskan Native, and AAPI youth were typically older. Episodes tended to end in reunification/returning home (50.25%), followed by moving in with a relative guardian (22.42%), or being adopted (21.98%). Youth more rarely exited to non-family discharges (e.g., aging out) at 3.4% of episodes, or to fictive kinship caregivers at 1.9 %. Cox proportions (Hazard Ratio = risk of exit) were estimated to compare the risk of exiting care for each race. Black youth (HR = 1.103) while multi-race youth and White youth exited later (HR = 0.786 and 0.941) compared to the overall rate of exit in the state (all estimates p < .001). Hazard estimates for youth from Indigenous and AAPI backgrounds were unreliable (i.e., low ns). Survival curves (Kaplan-Meier) representing the likelihood of remaining in care over time suggest that Black youth exited foster care at a disproportionately faster rate than other children from other backgrounds. Analyses were also performed on the quartile length of stay for each exit outcome to account for differences due to time in care (i.e., time to adoption > guardianship > reunification). Black youth were discharged typically from shorter and longer stays if they were adopted, but shorter stays if they were reunified or moved in with a relative. White and multi-race youth tended to leave care in later months whether they reunified, went to relative care, or were adopted. When compared to national trends (AFCARS; LaBrenz et al., 2021), the data from the state foster care agency shows unique disproportionalities in exit patterns, where youth of black and brown communities leave care, return home, and are less likely adopted than other youth. Findings will be presented with equity-focused visualizations to engage discussion on policy and practice affecting youth of color in foster care.

Authors

• Jordan Thibodeaux, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Rhenda Hodnett, Louisiana Department of Children and Families

• Jessica Jones, Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services

• Joseph Keegan