Equity

Equity

Achieving Equity

The Children and Families Coalition of Orange County is committed to achieving an equitable child welfare system without disparities based on race or ethnicity. To this end, the Coalition partners with national and local organizations to bring new practices in anti-racism to the work of Orange County child welfare providers and County service networks and support systems. 

Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)

In partnership with the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), the Coalition is working to apply an Anti-Racism Intersectional Frame to the Strengthening Families approach implemented by many child welfare organizations and networks in Orange County. Strengthening Families, when it was developed, provided support for certain anti-racist goals including: 1) Lifting up universal protective factors that manifest differently in different cultures; 2) Reaching all families through non-stigmatizing systems; 3) Focusing on strengths rather than deficits as a way to overcome implicit bias of providers;  and 4) Recognizing linguistically and culturally relevant practice as a marker of quality in early care and education and other programs.

However, those intentions have not been explicit enough in Strengthening Families materials. When protective factors are described as “universal” that can be interpreted as color-blindness when not explained well. Because it is an approach and not a program, people can use it selectively and ignore elements, potentially excluding components that advance inclusion, when the provider is biased.

In collaboration with CSSP, the Coalition is working to evolve the implementation of Strengthening Families in Orange County, elevating CSSP’s Anti-racist Intersectional Frame by applying it in all organizations that use the Strengthening Families approach.

Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare

The Coalition supports the work of the Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare, transforming how systems interact with children and families of color. The Alliance boldly identifies policies and practices (both intended and unintended) that harm children and families of color and promotes anti-racist intersectional policies that will result in better outcomes for children and families of color.

The Alliance relies on tools such as research, policy, and practice to understand and educate others on the legacy of racism that the child welfare system continues to operate from today; to imagine the possibilities if we shifted the foundation of child and family well-being to an anti-racist one; to mobilize policymakers, practitioners, researchers, advocates, and constituents who value equitable and just systems of care that promotes healing; and to create a universal system which works first and foremost for children, youth, and families impacted by the historic impact of racism and oppression.

National Black Child Development Institute

Working in collaboration the National Black Child Development Institute, the Coalition addresses NBCDI’s statement of need for the for the child welfare system:

“Across our nation, almost half of the children currently in out-of-home placement care are children of color.  Black children are more likely to be in out-of-home care than are White children; they are also more likely to enter care at an earlier age and to remain in care for longer.”  

To help support the transformation of Orange County’s child welfare system, the Coalition is supporting the local application of NBCDI’s child welfare priorities and objectives:

  • Ensure that African American culture is recognized, respected and reflected in child welfare practices, by integrating appropriate cultural competence teaching into social work training and prevention practices, and by engaging in community support practices that encourage family-to-family mentoring and kinship care support.
  • Implement targeted efforts to actively recruit foster and adoptive families that reflect the culture and ethnicity of children in out-of-home placement, given the dearth of licensed African American foster families and adoptive parents.
  • Focus attention on the issues of racial disproportionality and service disparities in child welfare systems with the goal of reducing and ultimately eliminating those disparities.
  • Engage in effective prevention efforts, including parenting and family support practices, to keep Black children safely in their homes and reduce the number of Black children removed from their homes.

MENTAL HEALTH EQUITY COLLABORATIVE

The Coalition partners with the Mental Health Equity Collaborative of Orange County to promote community ownership of systems decisions making and its efforts to advocate for policy and systems change, accessibility, and quality in mental health care services that are responsive to community needs​. This includes increasing collaboration and coordination between the Orange County Social Services (SSA) Eliminating Racial Disparity & Disproportionality Advisory Group and the HCA Mental Health Equity Committee.