The Florida High School Shooting Is Just One Example of White Privilege in Our Child Welfare System
According to a recent New Your Times article Nikolas Cruz, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter, A Florida social services (Child Protective Services) agency conducted an in-home investigation of Nikolas Cruz after he exhibited troubling behavior almost a year and a half ago. The CPS agency, the Florida Department of Children and Families, had been alerted to posts on Snapchat of Cruz cutting his arms and expressing interest in buying a gun, according to the report.
However, after visiting and questioning Cruz at his home, the CPS agency determined that he was at low risk of harming himself or others. The agency subsequently closes the case shortly thereafter. Yes, you read right. The agency received a complaint (from someone close to Cruz), they investigated, and they did NOTHING. No safety plan and no required services. NOTHING.
Howard Finkelstein, the Broward County public defender, whose office is representing Cruz, said the report was further evidence that Cruz needed serious help long before the shooting but did not get enough of it.
“This kid exhibited every single known red flag, from killing animals to having a cache of weapons to disruptive behavior to saying he wanted to be a school shooter,” Mr. Finkelstein said. “If this isn’t a person who should have gotten someone’s attention, I don’t know who is. This was a multi-system failure.” But I believe this demonstrates more than just a “failure of the system,” it shows how and why the system fails.
The Reality (and racism) of the American Child Welfare System
Racial disparities within the child welfare is not a new and/or recent problem it has existed for a very long time. A significant amount of research has documented the gross over-representation of certain racial and ethnic populations in the child welfare system when compared with their representation in the general population (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016).
More than any other racial group, it is African Americans that are affected by, and harmed, the most by these well documented child welfare racial disparities. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), African Americans make up around 34 percent of the foster-care population, but only 15 percent of the general child population and are more than twice as likely to enter foster care compared with white children in 2004 (United States., Government Accountability Office, 2007). Moreover, it has become blatantly and undeniably apparent that racial disparities exist and are evident at every critical decision point within the child welfare system (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2006).
I doubt that a black child, or their family, would have “slipped” through the cracks given the same situation. The tendency for child welfare agencies to bend over backwards for, and turn a blind eye towards, white children and families allow these mentally disturbed children and teens to do what Cruz did (commit horrible and monstrous acts of violence). This is how white privilege works within the child welfare system. I can only hope and pray that child welfare professionals learn from this terrible mistake. TREAT ALL CHILDREN AND FAMILIES THE SAME.
#NAFPAorg #AfricanAmericanChildWelfareAct #BlackFamilyMatters #BlackLoveMatters #BlackLivesMatter #BlackFamiliesBelongTogether #BlackHistory #KeepBlackFamiliesTogether #BlackMothersForCPSAbolition #BlackMothersForChildWelfareReform #AbolishCPS # AbolishFosterCare #RacistDHS #RepealASFANow
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Latagia Copeland-Tyronce, MSW, CADAS, is a longtime parental rights and social justice advocate, child welfare reform activist, writer/blogger, and journalist whose work has been featured in BlackMattersUs and Rise Magazine. She is the founder, president, and executive director of the National African American Families First and Preservation Association (NAFPA) a groundbreaking 501c4 nonprofit origination, the first of its kind, devoted exclusively to the protection and preservation of the African American (Black) Family though policy and legislative advocacy.
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