Achieving Racial Equity

Learn about our initiative to address racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system.

On any given day, over 400,000 children are in the U.S. foster care system. A number of environmental and societal factors play a role in these kids being separated from their families, and while children of all races can be found in this system, a disproportionate number of these children are Black. Studies have shown that Black children in foster care experience disparate treatment and significantly higher risk for negative outcomes later in life compared to other children in the system.

Black children make up 14% of the total child population, but 23% of all kids in foster care. By comparison, white children make up 50% of the child population, and 44% of kids in foster care¹

¹Kids Count Data Center 2018

23% of Black youth who age out of foster care experience homelessness and 29% experience incarceration, far higher rates than non-Black youth²

²American Bar Association

Black children are more than twice as likely to enter the foster care system as White children and remain in the system about nine months longer³

³African American Children in Foster Care Study

19.5% of Black families live below the poverty line, compared to 8.2% of White families⁴

⁴Talk Poverty

Our initiative for Achieving Racial Equity in the child welfare system revolves around empowering local churches embedded within communities of great need to take meaningful action for vulnerable children and families of color. These churches, who are profoundly aware of the needs of their community and have established trust among its members, are perfectly positioned to reverse the racial disproportionality and disparity of Black children in the child welfare system and generate healthy outcomes for all families. Through research of demographic data by zip code, we have identified neighborhoods where Black families are experiencing the most challenging adversity and the greatest rates of Black children overrepresented in the system. It is here, in these 2,009 communities, where the local church can make an immediate and significant impact to achieve racial equity by meeting needs focused around safely preventing Black children from entering the system and helping kids exit foster care to healthy, permanent families.

Many of the families involved in the child welfare system have practical needs that, when met by caring members of their community, have the power to drastically improve the trajectory of their lives. CarePortal engages child-serving professionals who work directly with kids and families in crisis to vet and alert the community to those needs while simultaneously mobilizing local churches, organizations, and community members who have the desire and resources to service those needs – all in real-time, in one central place. Here’s how it works.

You can make a difference by committing to provide, fund, or pray for these needs and families by signing up on CarePortal today. Together, we can achieve racial equity and facilitate healthy outcomes for all families.

Out of 33,000+ total zip codes in the U.S., 2,009 meet the following criteria: