Black Parents Fight to Keep Their Children: Foster Care Bias Splits Black Families (cont.)

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Nationally, African Americans are almost 15 percent of the childhood population but about 40 percent of the 540,000 children in foster care, according to government figures. That number has declined from 44 percent in 1998, but studies show that Black children still remain in care longer than children of other races or ethnicities, are moved more often, and are less likely to be adopted or returned home. One 2001 Department of Health and Human Services report showed that even when their parents had the same characteristics as White parents, Black children were three times less likely to be reunited than White children.

In New York City, the disparities re starker still. Although the city saw a 36 percent drop in foster care placements from 1999-2003, Black children still make up 55 percent of those 21,829 in the system. Hispanics make up 24.7 percent and Whites 3.5 percent.

“We went from a system that was supposed to provide services to one where people are scared to call and ask for help,” said Dorothy Roberts, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law and author of Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare (Basic Books, 2002). “It’s become a system for investigating – one that is coercive and punitive. And because of that it’s susceptible to bias and stereotypes.”

Nicolie Jones is not fighting alone. She has the support of People United for Children (PUC), a Harlem-based advocacy group. In 1998, PUC filed a class-action federal lawsuit charging that New York City’s ACS discriminates against parents of color by removing children without investigation and failing to inform parents of their rights. PUC is negotiating to settle with the city, said Joan Gibbs, the group’s lawyer. “We’re seeking policy changes to keep cases from getting to court in the first place.”

No custody case is simple; parents have been known to stretch the truth; while caseworkers have done the same to protect their positions. The parents often rely on court-appointed lawyers – many of whom are underpaid and under-staffed. But one thing is clear: Race matters. One look at those awaiting their cases in family court in Manhattan shows the grim reality that parents like Nicolie Jones must endure. The people in power –judges, lawyers, caseworkers – are predominantly White, and those fighting to get their children back are mostly Black and Brown.

Jones is ready to battle for her children. She speaks her mind at every turn, and makes it clear that she will fight against her children’s being passed from foster home to foster home. “They’d better find somebody else’s kids,” she said. “These are not for sale.”

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