Welcome everyone once again to the Race Matters Teleconference Series for the fall of 2008. We have a great deal of information in our five teleconference calls on recent events, research, data and advances in the field of racial disproportionality and disparities in child welfare and the development of racial equity in child welfare systems throughout the country.

Day and Dates:  1st and 3rd Tuesday      10/21-12/16/ 2008
Time:  11am Central, Noon Eastern, 10 am Mountain, 9am Pacific Time
Length of calls :  60 minutes

Call-In Number:  866-846-1051, passcode 7288376#

Fall 2008 Presentations

1. October 21, 2008
   Examining Various Site Approaches for Achieving Racial Equity in Child Welfare
   
   Presented by: Dennette Derezotes, Executive Director of the Race Matters Consortium at Westat
   
   The Alliance on Racial Equity in Child Welfare was established to reduce racial disproportionality, disparities and achieve racial equity in the child welfare system. Using a Theory of Change that suggests that long term sustainable change requires change on 6 dimensions, this presentation presents those dimensions as well as a critical look at how change in these dimensions looks across four unique Alliance sites.
   
   Achieving Racial Equity in Child Welfare:Examining What We Know (Power Point Presentation)
   
   
2. November 4, 2008
   Disproportionality in Illinois Child Welfare
   
   Presented by: Nancy Rolock, Research Specialist, Children and Family Research Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
   
   Building on research and methodology developed to look at educational outcomes across school districts within a state, Nancy Rolock at the Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign applied this logic to look at child welfare outcomes at several points of intervention: at the point of indicated or founded cases, at the prevalence of placement with kin, and the likelihood of stability while in foster care, and at exiting foster care to permanence. This presentation is an examination of the methodology used to examine disproportionality, the findings throughout various regions in Illinois, and their implications for strategies for change.
   
   Disproportionality in Illinois Child Welfare (PDF)
   
   Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Illinois Child Welfare (Power Point Presentation)
   
   Weighted Risk Ratio Table (Excel)
   
   
3. November 18, 2008
   TBD
   
   
4. December 2, 2008
   Bridging Two Worlds: Youth Involved in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems
   
   Presented by: Shay Bilchik, JD, Director Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, Georgetown University Joseph Ryan, PhD, Assistant Professor and Faculty Fellow, Children and Family Research Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
   
   In the Spring of 2008, The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) convened a gathering of child welfare and juvenile justice professionals in a research paper and Wingspread Conference to create a Policy Guide for improving outcomes for children who experience both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This presentation focuses on the logic behind the crossover, it's relationship to issues of racial disproportionality, disparities and the creation of racial equity, and the development of the Policy Guide.
   
   The Policy Guide can be found at http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/resources.html
   
   A Brief Review of the Research and Issues Related to Crossover Youth (Power Point Presentation)
   
   Child Welfare to Juvenile Justice (Power Point Presentation)
   
   Maltreatment and delinquency: Investigating child welfare bias in juvenile justice processing (PDF)
   
   Juvenile Delinquency in Child Welfare: Investigating Group Home Effects (PDF)
   
   Exploring the Characteristics and Outcomes of 241.1 Youth Crossing Over from Dependency to Delinquency in Los Angeles County (PDF)
   
   Matrix of Policy Recommendations (PDF)
   
   
5. December 16, 2008
   Current Research in Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in Child Welfare and Achieving Racial Equity
   
   Presented by: Kathleen Belanger, PhD, Stephen F Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX Lloyd Bullard, MEd, VP Operations, Youth for Tomorrow, Bristow, VA Deborah K. Green, Deborah K. Green, MSW, CDVC-III, MAC, Texas Department of Human Services
   
   Issues related to racial disproportionality, disparities and the creation of racial equity in child welfare have come to the forefront in recent years. Recognizing this, the Child Welfare League of America has devoted a Special Double Issue to a compilation of papers on this important subject in the journal, Child Welfare, entitled, Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in Care.
   http://www.cwla.org/articles/cwjabstracts.htm#0803
   
   The editors of this important publication will present the logic behind the structure of the special issue, challenges that rose through its development and findings across several of the journal articles.
   
   Racial Disproportionality in Child Welfare (Power Point Presentation)