Introduction to the Child Welfare System

The history of the “child welfare” system in this country is rife with discrimination and family separation. The United States child welfare system purportedly exists to protect the safety and well-being of all children. However, decades of research and accounts of lived experiences confirm that the system instead has a long history of separating children and families of color, particularly Black families, because of unjust and racist policies and practices.  

This system, which we refer to as a system of family regulation or family policing, imposes surveillance over Black families at disproportionate rates. Over 50% of Black children in the United States will experience a child welfare investigation before their eighteenth birthday. Nearly 10% of all Black children will be removed from their parents and placed into foster care. This is twice the rate at which white children are subject to child welfare investigations or removed from their homes.  

While communities need strategies to protect children from abuse and neglect, our current approach regularly exposes children to harm and disrupts families rather than providing the support needed to keep children safe.   

Almost immediately after its founding, Juvenile Law Center established its leadership in protecting the rights of children labeled “abused” or “neglected.” “Neglect” is a nebulous and broadly defined term that is often a euphemism for “poor.” Issues like “inadequate housing” or failure to provide “adequate nutrition” are among the most cited sources of neglect. According to a January 2021 memorandum by the United States Administration for Children and Families, many “neglect” removals are the result of poverty. For decades, Juvenile Law Center worked to ensure older youth in the foster system were given opportunities to seek permanency with their families, while still building important skills toward independence.   

Over time, Juvenile Law Center’s understanding of the entry points into this system evolved. Now more aptly referred to as a family policing system, we work to confront the deeply rooted racism of “child welfare.” Black, Brown, and Indigenous families routinely encounter surveillance, policing, and separation at deeply disproportionate rates. Similar to the juvenile and criminal legal system, this family policing system enacts social control over Black and Brown communities. Addressing the harms these systems cause is therefore a racial justice issue. 

While federal and state laws require the child welfare system to preserve family unity whenever possible, in practice, the system regularly pulls family apart, heightening racial and economic disparities. Moreover, each state mandates that certain adults report suspected child abuse to the state; some states threaten penalties for those who fail to report. This heightens entry into the system by leading professionals to report potential child abuse even when they do not believe a child has been maltreated. When children are removed from their home and placed in the foster system or in group homes, far too often they face further abuse, discrimination, and are at heightened risk of human trafficking and referrals to the juvenile or criminal legal systems.  

The foster system—placement out of the home—is intended to be temporary, but each year approximately 430,000 children “age out” with no permanent family connection. Individuals who age out of the system face bad adult outcomes. Research shows that they’re more likely to face homelessness or incarceration and less likely to obtain a high school diploma or GED, attend college, or secure employment. These poor outcomes can be reversed by ensuring that youth are placed with family and by offering youth the opportunity of extended foster care to provide more time for a youth to find family and be prepared for adulthood.  

Since 1975, Juvenile Law Center has identified and promoted policies and practices that ensure that the child welfare system preserves families, protects children, and responds timely and appropriately to the spectrum of children’s needs.  Our current work focuses on building up alternatives to mandated reporting, together with young people and families, with a goal of building safer communities without the harm of state intervention. We also work to ensure that when young people do enter the “child welfare” system, the state does not take their survivor and disability benefits, maximizing the resources they have for success.