Date of Conferral

6-12-2024

Date of Award

June 2024

Degree

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.)

School

Psychology

Advisor

Delinda Mercer

Abstract

Racial disproportionality remains a historical issue in child welfare systems. It was important for this research to focus on characteristics, professional qualifications, and racial attitudes of those in child welfare decision-making roles to examine how they contributed to racism. To address the gap in the literature, the relationship between years of experience, race/ethnicity, risk of harm, advocacy, racial attitudes, and decision-making among child protection were examined to develop a greater understanding of the ongoing issues and development of reforming the child welfare decision-making process to capture racism among child protection workers. Increasing equality in the child welfare system will benefit African Americans and the child welfare. The theoretical foundation for this research study were critical race and structural discrimination theories. The research questions examined the relationship between years of experience, ethnicity, risk of harm, advocacy, and decision-making among child protection workers, the relationship between race/ethnicity and racial attitudes, and if racist attitudes as expressed on the Racial Attitude Survey predicted racial bias in case decision-making. A quantitative, ex-post-facto design was used; an independent samples t-test compared racial attitudes assessed on the Racial Attitude Survey between White and non-White caseworkers. There were significant positive correlations between race/ethnicity and racial attitudes. White child protection workers showed favorable attitudes toward families perceived to be of their own race. Similar results existed for non-White child protection workers. Findings may be used to develop standard procedures and trainings for clinicians and administrators to better serve their clients and employees.

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