Examining decision-making tools and child welfare involvement among Black families in Ontario, Canada

Overrepresentation of Black families occurs in the Ontario child welfare system. This study sought to examine this overrepresentation in the context of the introduction of standardized decision-making tools in Ontario. The authors had the following research questions: 1) What maltreatment typologies might explain the increase in investigations? 2) How might differing interpretations and methods of identification of corporal punishment, physical abuse, and exposure to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) be responsible for driving overrepresentation?; and 3) What is the child welfare system’s response to these maltreatment concerns as related to Black and White children?

In order to answer these questions, secondary data analysis of the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS; 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013) was conducted. Using the OIS data, this study allows for analysis over a significant period (15 years).

The authors found statistically significant differences between Black and White families in the rates of physical abuse investigations in the context of punishment involving a child being hit with a hand or object in the OIS-2003, 2008, and 2013 data collection periods. White families experienced investigations at the rate of 13.52, 8.78, and 8.21 per 1, 000 respectively, compared to Black families who experienced investigations at the rate of 34.68, 13.37, and 18.56 per 1, 000 Black families. Black families were investigated at a higher rate than their White counterparts. Similar outcomes were evident in the rates of suspected or substantiated physical abuse investigations. In the OIS-2013, Black families experienced suspected/substantiated outcomes at 4.83 per 1,000 Black families. In contrast, White families experienced suspected/substantiated physical abuse investigations at a rate of 1.68 per 1,000 White families.

Black and White families also experienced differences in the total substantiated IPV investigations from 2003 to 2013; in 2013, 19.13 per 1,000 Black families received an investigation and had the outcome of IPV substantiated compared to 11.91 per 1,000 White families.

The authors conclude that several factors may influence the differences between Black and White families and the overrepresentation in investigations. These factors may include: 1) the cultural norms of parenting in Black families being different than White families and not accepted in the Canadian context of parenting; 2) surveillance and/or biases in conjunction with mandatory reporting laws in Ontario; and 3) structural barriers, such as high rates of unemployment, lack of affordable housing, and poverty. The authors highlight a need to collaborate with stakeholders in the Black community to inform child welfare practices better and ensure that families do not receive unnecessary protection investigations when they can be better served within the community.