The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a much-anticipated and historic report yesterday focusing on the over-representation of African American children in this nation's foster care system. The 87-page report, requested by US House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel, is entitled African American Children in Foster Care: Additional HHS Assistance Needed to Help States Reduce the Proportion in Care.
The GAO report identifies the major factors believed to contribute to the over-representation of African American children in foster care, highlights efforts underway by public child welfare agencies around the country to address these dynamics and provides a set or recommendations for federal officials to consider and implement.
Visit IFCWB online now to read report.
The following text is taken from the first section of the report:
"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." (page 2)
You can also visit the following sites for additional information about this historic report...
Visit the United States Government Accountability Office directly for a report abstract and more background information.
Visit the US House Ways and Means Committee website for Congressman Charles Rangel's press release.
Read the report and join the discussion today!
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