CASA-NYC’s Commitment to Racial Equity

At CASA-NYC, we acknowledge that we work around and within a child welfare system steeped in structural racism. Black children, the only racial or ethnic group that is over-represented in NYC foster care,  make up only 25% of the New York City population but nearly 58% of the children in foster care. Once in foster care, Black children spend more time in the system and are less likely than children of other races to return to their parents or be adopted. This is a direct result of structural racism in every aspect of our society, which puts Black families at disproportionate risk of trauma, poverty, homelessness, and every form of family instability, at the same time that Black families are over-policed and over-monitored by social service systems.

As we continue our work to become an anti-racist organization and combat inequities in the child welfare system, we have a responsibility to examine and dismantle the ways in which our own organization contributes to structural racism.

Since January 2019 our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) steering committee, along with staff and board, have identified the following priorities and commitments:

  • Recruiting a more diverse team of volunteer advocates, staff, and board members to more accurately reflect and better represent the communities we serve.

  • Centering the voices of people with lived experience in the child welfare system in organizational decision-making at all levels. Currently, this includes incorporating the voices of youth leadership council members in our strategic planning, DEI and hiring committees, as well as in program and policy decisions. We also commit to better including the voices of parents who’ve been involved with the child welfare system in the year ahead. 

  • Requiring intensive training for all advocates and staff to better prepare us to advance racial equity for the children and families we serve. This includes: 

    • Identifying and combating implicit and explicit biases in ourselves and others involved in childrens’ cases;

    • Understanding the historical and present context of structural racism in child welfare and other related systems, in order to identify structural barriers to safety and stability and support families in overcoming those barriers;

    • Increasing competence and comfort in engaging in dialogue about race, racism and racial equity;

    • Increasing competence in engaging BIPOC (Black, Indeginous, and other People of Color) children, youth, and families in authentic partnerships to support them in achieving their goals related to safety and stability. 

  • Explicitly identifying family reunification as our primary goal whenever it is safe and in the child’s best interest. Facilitating reunification includes: 

    • Better preparing volunteers and staff to understand the circumstances of the case from the parents’ and child's perspective, and ensuring the court is informed of those perspectives; 

    • Identifying and acknowledging  cases where separation may not have been necessary or in the best interest of children, and ensuring all parties and stakeholders have all of the relevant information known to CASA about those circumstances;    

    • Identifying barriers to safety and stability imposed by structural racism and making concerted efforts to support families in overcoming those barriers so that reunification is possible.

  • Increasing advocacy efforts at the city, state, and federal levels to increase equity in the child welfare system.

  • Educating our larger network of stakeholders and supporters on structural racism prevalent in the history of child welfare in order to change the narrative about why children enter foster care, and the negative perception of families involved in this system.