Higher Rates of Poverty, Lack of Support Services, and Racial Bias Viewed as Increasing African American Children’s Entry into Foster Care

In responding to our survey, states considered three main groups of  factors as contributing to African American children’s entry into foster  care:  These groups included high rates of poverty and other poverty- related issues, challenges in accessing supports and services in  impoverished communities, and racial bias or cultural misunderstanding  among decision makers. Using subsidized guardianship as an alternative to adoption may hold  particular promise for reducing disproportionality, and more than half of  the states surveyed (30) reported using this strategy. Nearly all of the states we visited had assistance from local universities or  research institutes in analyzing data on disproportionality. These IV-B prevention funds can help divert  children from foster care by providing services to their families and also  help children exit foster care by providing supports to adoptive families  and guardians. Yet the majority of federal funding for child welfare is  distributed as payments for maintaining children already in foster care  homes under another part of the law, Title IV-E.
Twenty-five states we surveyed reported that the limited use of Title IV-E  funds for other purposes besides making maintenance payments to foster  care families, such as providing services to families, contribute to the  proportion of African American children in care. Other  researchers and officials told us they opposed the law’s intent and were  concerned about the detrimental effects of placing children with parents  of another race on a child’s well being. Some African American families,  especially relatives, are reluctant to adopt because they do not want to  terminate the parental rights of the child’s parent, according to officials  and researchers we interviewed. However, unless states are one of the seven that have a  current federal demonstration waiver for assisted guardianship or kinship  permanency programs, states cannot use federal child welfare funds to  provide subsidies to legal guardians. States considered federal policies on the licensing and the use of relatives  to provide foster care as increasing the proportion of African American  children in foster care. States report being  constrained by the lack of federal subsidies for legal guardianship similar  to those provided for adoption. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

	Objectives

For this study, we were asked to analyze (1) the major factors that have  been identified as influencing the proportion of African American children  entering and remaining in foster care compared to children of other races  and ethnicities;  (2) the extent that states and localities have implemented  strategies that appear promising in addressing African American  representation in foster care; and (3) the ways in which key federal child  welfare policies may have influenced African American representation in  foster care.
Why GAO Did This Study

A significantly greater proportion of African American children are in foster care than children of other races and ethnicities, according to HHS and other research. Given this situation, GAO was asked to analyze the (1) major factors influencing the proportion of African American children in foster care, (2) extent that states and localities have implemented promising strategies, and (3) ways in which federal policies may have influenced African American representation in foster care. GAO's methodologies included a nationwide survey; a review of research and federal policies; state site visits; analyses of child welfare data; and interviews with researchers, HHS officials, and other experts.

What GAO Found

A higher rate of poverty is among several factors contributing to the higher proportion of African American children entering and remaining in foster care. Families living in poverty have greater difficulty accessing housing, mental health, and other services needed to keep families stable and children safely at home. Bias or cultural misunderstandings and distrust between child welfare decision makers and the families they serve are also viewed as contributing to children's removal from their homes into foster care. African American children also stay in foster care longer because of difficulties in recruiting adoptive parents and a greater reliance on relatives to provide foster care who may be unwilling to terminate the parental rights of the child's parent--as required in adoption--or who need the financial subsidy they receive while the child is in foster care. Most states we surveyed reported using strategies intended to address these issues, such as involving families in decisions, building community supports, and broadening the search for relatives to care for children. HHS provides information and technical assistance, but states reported that they had limited capacity to analyze data and formulate strategies, and states we visited told us they relied on assistance from universities or others. States reported that the ability to use federal funding for family support services was helpful in keeping African American children safely at home and that federal subsidies for adoptive parents helped move children out of foster care. However, they also expressed concerns about the inability to use federal child welfare funds to provide subsidies to legal guardians. As an alternative to adoption, subsidized guardianship is considered particularly promising for helping African American children exit from foster care. States were also concerned about the lack of flexibility to use federal foster care funds to provide services for families, although states can use other federal funds for this purpose if they consider it a priority.