For decades, the incessantly tethered over-involvement of African American/Black (AA/BL) families with the U.S. Child Welfare System (CWS) has been uniquely troubling. Child welfare researchers have asserted “poverty” over “racism” as the root determinant of the historical disproportionate overrepresentation of AA/BL children in CWS. This commentary explores the extent this assertion holds once an apples-to-apples comparison of poor AA/BL and WH children in the CWS is examined. Using 2018 and 2019 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Systems (NCANDS) Child File data, rates of disproportionality and disparity for AA/BL and White (WH) children receiving public assistance (PA) (2018: N = 333,640; 2019: N = 321,273) were computed at two CW decision points [disposition of maltreatment investigation and subsequent services administered]. Among these poor children, AA/BL were found to be disproportionately overrepresented and WH children underrepresented compared to their proportion of the U.S. child population at each decision point. AA/BL children were also found to be three times more likely to have their maltreatment substantiated and subsequently be placed in foster care compared to their WH counterparts. The issues of racial disproportionality and disparities still exists when comparing poor AA/BL to poor WH children, which suggests “racism” is operational at decision points in the U.S. CWS and should not be minimized or omitted as a consequential determinant.

几十年来，非裔美国人/黑人 (AA/BL) 家庭不断过度参与美国儿童福利系统 (CWS) 一直令人不安。儿童福利研究人员声称，“贫困”胜过“种族主义”，这是历史上 CWS 中 AA/BL 儿童比例过高的根本决定因素。一旦对 CWS 中贫困的 AA/BL 和 WH 儿童进行了逐一比较，本评论探讨了这一断言在多大程度上成立。使用 2018 年和 2019 年国家虐待和忽视儿童数据系统 (NCANDS) 儿童档案数据，获得公共援助 (PA) 的 AA/BL 和白人 (WH) 儿童的不成比例和差异率 (2018: N = 333,640; 2019: N= 321,273) 是在两个 CW 决策点 [虐待调查的处置和所管理的后续服务] 计算的。在这些贫困儿童中，在每个决策点，与他们在美国儿童人口中的比例相比，AA/BL 的比例过高，而 WH 儿童的比例过低。与 WH 同行相比，AA/BL 儿童被证实虐待并随后被寄养的可能性也高出三倍。在将贫困的 AA/BL 与贫困的 WH 儿童进行比较时，种族不成比例和差异的问题仍然存在，这表明“种族主义”在美国 CWS 的决策点上是可操作的，不应将其作为一个必然的决定因素而被最小化或忽略。