African American Children and Families in Child Welfare by Ramona Denby Carla Curtis

Author:Ramona Denby, Carla Curtis [Ramona Denby, Carla Curtis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780231131858
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

6

Child and Parent Well-Being

In child welfare the phrase “child well-being” refers to the combined effect of major indicators associated with optimal development for physical, emotional, and social growth among children. Indicators of child well-being are compiled and evaluated nationwide across income and socioeconomic differences. A majority of children in out-of-home care come from economically disadvantaged families, meaning that they are likely to live in neighborhoods that pose challenges for safety and wellbeing because of crime and poor housing quality, and they typically experience limitations when it comes to receiving services and benefits. General indicators of child well-being include family income, housing, transportation, education, marital status of parents, physical and dental health, behavioral health, and the absence of involvement with the juvenile justice system. Once a child comes into contact with the out-of-home care system, there are services and systems of support in place that the child and family may need to strengthen and sustain the family unit. Children may require a variety of services aimed at enhancing their chances for healthy and emotionally stable outcomes.

In this chapter we will not address all indicators of child well-being for children. Instead we provide an overview of several primary indicators of well-being relative to African American children in the child protective service system, based on available data. The indicators of income, health, mental health, education, and contact with the juvenile justice system will be addressed relative to the effect on well-being among these children. Parental well-being is a primary determinant of child well-being and will be discussed in this chapter as well. African American children in child protective service systems generally experience poorer outcomes compared with other children; the indicators discussed here are important in ensuring sustainable, long-term well-being for all children, but particularly for the vulnerable children in out-of-home care. The chapter concludes with a discussion of practice considerations and strategies that increase both child and parent well-being. It also provides a cultural adaptation of existing efforts and intervention approaches.

. . .

EXISTING TRENDS

Principles and Programs That Support Children’s Well-Being

THE HARLEM CHILDREN’S ZONE

Child well-being is influenced by a myriad of individual, interpersonal, organizational, community/neighborhood, and policy factors. Some of the threats to well-being for African American children begin at birth: African American infants are twice as likely as European American infants to be born with low birth weight (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], National Center for Health Statistics, 2009). Moreover, children’s well-being is influenced by parental and family wellbeing. For example, 13 percent of African American children have mothers who did not complete high school, compared with only 5 percent of European American children (Aud, Fox, & Kewal Ramani, 2010). Highly disadvantaged neighborhoods are characterized as having high rates of unemployment, poverty, single-parent households, segregation, and density of children. Sharkey (2009) found that more than three-fourths of African American children born between 1985 and 2000 were born and reared in “high disadvantaged” neighborhoods. Neighborhood mapping shows high correlations between child welfare system involvement and residential life in high disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.