CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Child Welfare: Ethnic/Racial Disproportionality and Disparity Barbara Needell, MSW, PhD Center for Social Services Research University of California at Berkeley Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Los Angeles, CA The Performance Indicators Project at CSSR is supported by the California Department of Social Services and the Stuart Foundation
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley 2007 California: Ethnicity and Path through the Child Welfare System (Missing Values & Other Race Excluded from % Calculations, <18 years of Age)
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley 2007 California: Ethnicity and Path through the Child Welfare System (Missing Values & Other Race Excluded from % Calculations, <18 years of Age)
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley 2007 California: Ethnicity and Path through the Child Welfare System (Missing Values & Other Race Excluded from % Calculations, <18 years of Age)
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley 2007 California: Ethnicity and Path through the Child Welfare System (Missing Values & Other Race Excluded from % Calculations, <18 years of Age)
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley 2007 California: Ethnicity and Path through the Child Welfare System (Missing Values & Other Race Excluded from % Calculations, <18 years of Age)
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley 2007 California: Ethnicity and Path through the Child Welfare System (Missing Values & Other Race Excluded from % Calculations, <18 years of Age)
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Definitions… Disproportionality: when a group makes up a proportion of those experiencing some event that is higher or lower than that group’s proportion of the population Disparity: a comparison of one group (e.g, regarding disproportionality, services, outcomes) to another group
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Black Disproportionality 18.6% 6.2% = California: Disparity Index Entry Disparity (relative to overall population) White Disproportionality 26.2% 32.7% = 0.8 Disparity Index = 3.7
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Black Disproportionality 18.6% 26.3% = California: Disparity Index Exit Disparity (relative to in care population) White Disproportionality 27.3% 25.3% = 1.1 Disparity Index = 0.6
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Disparity Matrix: Indices (view 1)
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Disparity Matrix: Indices (view 2)
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Native American Hispanic Asian/PI California: Racial Disparity Indices (group compared to White) UnderrepresentedOverrepresented Black
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Disparity Index Adjustments: the Weighted Risk Ratio When comparing the disparity of one group compared to all other groups in localities within a state an adjustment is required. Why? The level of disparity is driven in part by the underlying racial composition of the locality. Nancy Rolock at the Children and Family Research Center (University of Illinois) has proposed the use of a weighted risk ratio (drawn from use in education developed by Westat), that weights the ratios by the overall racial composition of the state. More to come— (312) ext. 24 The adjustment is not required when comparing one group to another distinct group.
CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley CSSR.BERKELEY.EDU/UCB_CHILDWELFARE Needell, B., Webster, D., Armijo, M., Lee, S., Dawson, W., Magruder, J., Exel, M., Glasser, T., Williams, D., Zimmerman, K., Simon, V., Putnam-Hornstein, E., Frerer, K., Ataie, Y., Winn, A., Blumberg, R., & Cuccaro-Alamin, S. (2008). Barbara Needell (pcs)