Systemically Neglected How Racism Structures Public Systems to Produce Child Neglect

In recent years, more than a quarter of a million children each year have been removed from their families and placed in foster care because of alleged neglect and these children are disproportionately Black or Indigenous.

Too often, circumstances stemming from poverty are construed as neglect, but underlying both poverty and neglect is historic and present-day racism.

This report outlines the history of how child protective services developed to over-surveil families of color, examines how policy pushes families of color into the child welfare system today, and concludes with some recommendations for adequately supporting children and families of color and keeping families together in the future.