Bringing the Tools of Social Work Research to the Vision of Racial Equity

Racial inequality in the U.S. child welfare system is well known. Decades of research shows persistent overrepresentation of Native American and African American children in child welfare services, as well as disparate negative outcomes for children and families of color.

Catherine Lawrence, Associate Professor, began her career at the University at Albany studying the benefits of training child welfare workers in culturally responsive practice with diverse families. She found that participants not only enthusiastically embraced the training, but wanted even more. Yet disproportionality for children and families of color has not improved as quickly as the enthusiasm expressed by those training participants suggests that it could. Enthusiastic individuals often work in bureaucratic settings that don’t always know how to nurture that enthusiasm and embrace changes.

But perhaps those organizations can learn.

Dr. Lawrence and her colleagues have shown that organizational interventions can improve agency climate. She is now applying that knowledge to diversity and inclusivity climates in child welfare agencies, many of which struggle to recruit and retain a racially diverse workforce that is culturally aware and responsive to community needs. Racially diverse organizations are not always inclusive organizations, where people feel fully accepted and valued for the unique aspects of themselves they bring to their jobs. Inclusion means that diverse groups are not just present in an agency but are also promoted to supervisory and management positions. Yet Dr. Lawrence and her colleagues found workers of color are significantly underrepresented in supervisory positions, and this underrepresentation is even more pronounced in management and leadership roles.

So what do we do? “In my work thus far, most of the research participants, both staff of color and white staff, truly want to see racial equity in the communities they serve and in the agencies where they work.  Racism and disparity are devastating to experience and heartbreaking to witness. But the people who work in child welfare leave me humbled by their determination and hope.” Dr. Lawrence and her colleagues are now working with seven child welfare programs through a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which funds the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute housed at the University at Albany School of Social Welfare. NCWWI aims to harness the determination, hope and vision of child welfare workers and agency leaders to improve the capacity of organizations to truly support their workforce, including making changes that lead to healthier, more inclusive work environments (see infographic and resources).

Dr. Lawrence credits mentors at the University with her own determination to confront racism, especially traveling to South Africa with Dr. Shirley Jones at the School of Social Welfare. “While on Robben Island, where the South African government isolated political prisoners, I asked myself what the white people were doing with their outrage at such injustice. It wasn’t hard to find their history of courage and hard work, and I carry those inspiring stories into my own academic work here at UAlbany.”