Blind Removal Process: 

Removing Bias in Decision-Making

 

In the U.S. foster care system, a disproportionate number of black children vs. white children are placed into care each year. The data shows that one-quarter of the children in foster care are black, yet they represent only 14% of the general population.*

 

Racial bias (toward families of color during critical points in the decision-making process of the child protection system) was revealed as a contributing factor to this disparity, along with interrelated socioeconomic factors.

 

“A big piece of this is recognizing your own bias,” said Ellen Merkel, an Administrative Caseworker for the Monroe County Department of Human Services, Child and Family Services Division (CFS).

 

To combat this issue, every CFS staff member is required to complete implicit bias training. In addition, Monroe County has integrated a Blind Removal Process to achieve a more equitable system of care when a child has been removed from the home and foster care placement is being considered.

 

*Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN)

National research shows—and the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) data confirms—that black children are more likely to be reported for abuse or neglect, have their case investigated and substantiated, be removed from their families as a result, and experience longer stays in foster care.

 

“The community was reporting higher levels of neglect with black families, partly due to racial bias and income disparity,” said Merkel.

 

In 2009, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), with support from Casey Family Programs, provided grants to select counties to develop and implement strategies to reduce the overrepresentation of black children in foster care.

 

In 2017, Monroe County began work to address racial bias in the decision-making process by piloting Blind Removal Meetings. “We found this early work to be invaluable,” Merkel said. “It allowed us to identify barriers to assist us in 2022 with a successful rollout of the full Blind Removal Process.” 

In a situation where a caseworker finds an unsafe home during a visit (e.g., no food in the house, access to drugs, parent under the influence, no one in the home capable of caring), and the family is unable or unwilling to make a plan, an immediate meeting is called to consider a removal of the child to foster care.

 

Within 15 minutes of notification, a Zoom meeting is scheduled. Those in attendance include: the caseworker and supervisor from the CPS team working with the family; supervisors from foster care intake, Preventive unit, and Homefinding teams; representatives from CPS management and the investigation team; an attorney from the CFS Law Department; and administrators from Child Protective Services Investigations (CPSI) and Child Protective Services Management (CPSM).

 

“Prior to the pandemic,” explained Merkel, “it was a challenge to get everyone in the room. Zoom united our locations and streamlined the process to better ensure the safety of the child.”

 

Ground rules are set for the case review:  No names, no addresses, no zip codes, no names of preventive services or any other information that could reveal the identity, location, race or ethnicity of the child and family involved. The importance of being blind ensures the meeting is focused only on safety issues for the child.

 

“I’ve been working with the county for 35 years,” Merkel said, “so there’s a chance I or one of my coworkers may know the family, maybe the grandparents. With the Blind Removal Process, we’re not bringing any judgments to the table about families we’ve worked with in the past.”

 

She explained that the meetings have offered a key opportunity to address the impact of bias, not just in regard to race and ethnicity, but also against families who have had frequent or multigenerational involvement in the child welfare system. “Through the Blind Removal Process, we have learned the importance of addressing personal bias and creating a cultural to have those open discussions.”

 

What is shared with the team is the current situation and any pertinent information about the family’s history. Any immediate or pending safety issues are evaluated and any potential placements with relatives are exhausted.

 

If a consensus is reached that the child is unable to be maintained safely at home and a removal to foster care is warranted, anyone who does not need first-hand knowledge of the family is asked to exit the Zoom call. The remaining team members go unblind, revealing the names, zip code and ethnicity of the child and family. The caseworker, Homefinding, foster care intake and legal team members jump into planning mode to talk about the next steps.

 

“The Blind Removal Process has also had some unintended benefits (to the child and family involved),” said Merkel. “Sometimes we are able to locate other family members or connect the family to resources as a result of our exhaustive search efforts, so the process doesn’t always lead to foster care placement.”
 

In 2020 (the most recent statistics available), there were 294 admissions in Monroe County of children under age 18 placed in foster care. Although the number of black children entering care has declined over the past decade, the rate remains much higher than white children.

 

Prioritizing staff development with implicit bias training and implementing the Blind Removal Process are two big steps in the right direction to eliminate bias in decision making. Because it takes a village, what can mandated reporters do to help?

“The implicit bias training is about self-awareness,” said Merkel, “which ebbs and flows. I recommend checking your own biases before picking up the phone and calling (to file a report). One example is income disparity. Even though a family is poor, for example, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re neglectful.”

 

The best way to discern how to correctly identify when a family could benefit from CPS intervention is to take the new mandated reporter training offered through NYS OCFS. This free training specifically addresses implicit bias in the reporting process and outlines options to help a family in need of support. Register in the link below in Resources.