African-American

Latagia Tyronce’s two children were playing and one, a toddler, was burned by a blow-dryer. Despite the support of the children’s grandmother, and the compelling evidence that this was an accident, Ohio’s Lucas County Department of Children’s Services removed Tyronce’s children and she was arrested for felony child endangerment.

Social workers and social scientists have a duty to educate, clarify and raise consciousness when empirically unfounded conclusions that can be harmful to marginalized populations are promoted as fact. Some may read Naomi Schafer Riley’s blog for the American Enterprise Institute – No, The Child Welfare System Isn’t Racist – and deem it as just another piece written from a shortsighted perspective steeped in white privilege.

There’s good reason to celebrate justice system reform for young people. From the period of 2003-2013, the number of young people in the juvenile justice system has declined by 47 percent, and the number of youth in adult court has also declined.

Note: This article was updated on June 19. Black and Native American children are vastly overrepresented in Nebraska’s foster care system, according to a report issued this month by the state’s Foster Care Review Office (FCRO).

As more and more grandparents step up to parent grandchildren, especially in the wake of the current opioid crisis, several organizations are teaming up to create a unique voice and education opportunity for American Indian and African American caregivers.

A new precedent was set recently when Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy announced a plan to establish 20 as the age of jurisdiction for the state’s juvenile justice system. This would make Connecticut the first state to presumptively include anyone over 18 in the juvenile justice system.

I was disappointed to read Kiersten Marek’s recent column in The Imprint. In it, she complains that the “movement and infrastructure for funding of initiatives for men and boys of color far outpace the support for women and girls of color.”

The Imprint is highlighting each of the policy recommendations made this summer by the participants of the Foster Youth Internship Program (FYI), a group of 12 former foster youths who completed congressional internships.

The highly publicized My Brother’ Keeper initiative (MBK), a federal project to improve the lives of young minority males, will be spun out of the White House and established as an independent nonprofit.