Black social workers said last week that a new study about black children and foster care is troubling and raises serious questions about the government’s commitment to caring for low-income families.

The study by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees the Department of Family and Protective Services, said black children stay in foster care significantly longer, are less likely to be reunited with their families and wait longer for adoption than white or Hispanic children.

"There are no children of the affluent in foster care. There are very, very few children from middle class families in foster care," Toni Oliver, executive director of Roots Adoption Agency in Atlanta, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "Over 98 percent of the children in foster care are children from poor families. And it is evident that our government does not care about poor people, evidenced by the huge, recent consensus on the federal budget cut."

Black families were no more likely than white families to have a child removed from the home, when researchers accounted for factors such as household income, the age of the victim and the source of the allegation, according to the study. But because black children exit the system more slowly, they make up a disproportionately large percentage of the foster care population.

Joyce James, the top administrator for the Texas child protective services, which runs the foster care system, said she'd like to see more research on the reasons for the differences.

"We'd certainly like to look at are we as an agency sensitive to the different ethnicities of people that we work with and do we need additional training to ensure we are responding adequately to the families," she said.

Oliver, who is also a member of the National Association of Black Social Workers, said child welfare services stay in business because children stay in foster care for long periods of time.

"On the up side," Oliver said, "any efforts initiated to address the conditions of poverty will, or at least should have positive outcomes at reducing the entry rate of black children into foster care."

The findings in the study mirror national statistics. The Texas Legislature requested the study and ordered an overhaul of CPS last spring after several high-profile child homicides involving families where caseworkers investigated parents but left the children in their care.

The researchers found poverty was significant, with more than 60 percent of all child removals in Texas involving families making about $10,000 or less a year.

The findings also revealed:

• Among families investigated for child maltreatment, poverty is a strong predictor of whether a child is removed from the home. More than 60 percent of child removals in Texas involve families with annual incomes of about $10,000 or less. This is a factor in disproportionality because poverty rates are higher among African-American families.
• African-American families are less likely than white families to receive in-home family services to help prevent child removal in three areas of the state, while Hispanic families are less likely than white families to receive such services in four areas.

"The reasons for disproportionality are multifaceted and complex," the study said. "Some experts believe that poverty is the primary source of disparity in child protective services. These researchers say that African-American, Hispanic, and Native-American families have a greater risk for involvement in the child welfare system because they tend to have lower incomes than Anglo families."

Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts, a NABSW member, told BlackAmericaWeb.com that black social service professionals are monitoring the Texas foster care system and are working closely with state officials to find solutions to problems outlined in the study.

"NABSW has a long history of promoting the preservation of families of African ancestry," said Batiste-Roberts, who is based in Houston. "We believe that children must be kept safe and protected. In addition, we support the rights of families to raise their children."

Scott McCown, a former judge, said the state could solve the problems identified in the study by tackling poverty before it leads to neglect.

"When you have programs that are designed to reach at-risk kids, you're already working at the edge of the waterfall," said McCown, who now leads a policy center that advocates more social-program spending. "You want to be working way upstream to divert kids from ever landing in the river to begin with."

The report called for better recruitment of foster and adoptive parents and collaboration with organizations that provide job training, GED classes and grants for higher education.

Batiste-Roberts said a number of black social workers in Houston are also employed with The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

"It is our belief," she said, "that until the inequity and discriminatory treatment of people of African ancestry is resolved, then the system will continue to treat our children and families disparately. NABSW is committed to ensuring the well being of our children and families."

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Associated Press contributed to this story.