Child Abuse

Child abuse is any conduct or failure to act by an adult resulting in sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and neglect of a child under the age of 18. Race is used to distinguish persons from others based on either physical characteristics or ethnicity. Each year, disproportionately high numbers of abused Black children are removed from their families and placed into the U.S. child welfare system. Overrepresentation exists when a racial group of children are represented in foster care at a higher rate than they are represented in the general population. For example, Black children constitute 27% of the U.S. foster care population (Figure 1), but 13% of the total U.S. child population (Figure 2). In contrast, White, American Indian, and Alaska Native children are underrepresented in foster care compared to their representation in the U.S. child population.

Differences in the relationships between race and child abuse occur in the substantiation of child abuse, placement in out-of-home care, length of stay in foster care, and reentry into foster care after attempts at family reunification by child protection agencies. Researchers have sought to identify, examine, and understand the issues related to race, child abuse, and child protection.

In the literature, explanations of child abuse are inconclusive regarding the incidences of child abuse and neglect by race. There is an ongoing debate about whether or not the disproportionality by race in foster care reflects racial differences in the incidence of risk factors associated with child abuse. These risk factors may include domestic violence, social isolation, alcohol and drug abuse, parental incarceration, and poverty. For example, studies have shown that the effect of poverty interacts with domestic violence and substance abuse, which can increase the likelihood of child abuse. Thus, if minority populations are disproportionately poor, a disproportionate number of minority children will enter foster care.

Figure 1 U.S. Foster Care Population by Race, 2001

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2003).

Figure 2 U.S. Child Population by Race, 2001

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2001).

It is the responsibility of child protection agencies to ensure the protection and safety of children who are victims of abuse and neglect. Routinely, child protection agencies are criticized for being racist and biased toward minority children. As a result, child protection agencies, along with state and local leaders, have made racial equity a priority [Page 111]in the best interest of families. Relatedly, inconsistency in the treatment of Black and other minority youth has prompted agencies and organizations to become more proactive by creating or improving cultural sensitivity and diversity training.

Although protecting children developed out of the efforts of religious and charitable groups, child protection services are the primary function of state governments. Historically, child welfare provisions were based upon English and patriarchal traditions. Both women and children were the property of their husband or father. This guaranteed the right of men to discipline their families any way they saw fit, inclusive of severe beating, as well as sexual and mental abuse of close relatives. During early colonial times, children were required to work in factories, workhouses, and apprenticeships under hazardous conditions as young as 5 years of age in order to support their families. It was not until 1874, with the case of Mary Ellen Wilson, the first child abuse case in America, that reformers began to recognize that children needed protection against abuse. This started the House of Refuge movement, a strict educational home, where children did not have to deal with harsh labor, poverty, or the corruption that came with city life. Conversely, this early form of child protection provision was exclusively for White abused children.

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