Community Accountability Boards: A Macro Intervention to Address the Disproportionate Surveillance and Separation of Black Children and Families by Child Welfare

Abstract

Due to systemic racism, Black children and families are disproportionately represented in child welfare at an alarming rate and suffer disparate outcomes as compared with their white counterparts at every decision point. This conceptual paper explores the issues through the lens of critical race theory and provides an overview of various efforts at the service and policy levels that have yet to yield sustained improvements. Informed by empowerment theory, community engagement, and antiracism organizing principles, Community Accountability Boards are proposed as a macro-level intervention to contribute a solution for the issue of disproportionality, which has implications for both the impacted communities and the social workers employed in child welfare systems. As such, the implications for practice and recommendations for future evaluation are provided.