Crossing the Divide: Asian American Families and the Child Welfare System (2001)
An increasing number of Asian American children will come to the attention of the child welfare system In the coming years, due to demographic growth and changes in the community. Asian Americans are the most rapidly expanding percentage of the population in New York City. Approximately 10 percent of the city’s total population are now Asian American.
Much of the growth is due to immigration. Many immigrant parents arrive in the U.S. with limited education, little experience living in a large urban area, and few marketable job skills. In the city, over half of all Asian American babies are born into poor or near poor families. Unfortunately, many reports of neglect stem from the limited resources of families living in poverty.
The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families concurs wholeheartedly with the goal of the child welfare system to protect the safety of the child. Unfortunately, child abuse and neglect do occur in Asian American families, as they do in all communities. Clearly, no one wants a child to be in physical danger or to be neglected, and sometimes children do need to be removed from their home.
At the same time, no one wants to traumatize a child and family by removing a child from their home unless it is absolutely necessary. Too many immigrant families are unnecessarily caught up in the child welfare system because of cultural differences or language barriers, or lack of economic resources, not because of intentional harm to their child. Once in the child welfare system, immigration status creates additional barriers for some families. If the child welfare system remains indifferent to the differences that immigrant communities present, children and their families may experience lifelong damage.
The city’s child welfare system and the institutions and agencies related to it, including the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), not-for-profit social and health agencies, the state Office of Children and Family Services, Family Court, and the Board of Education, cannot afford to be unaware of cultural and social beliefs. These organizations need to acknowledge and remove the barriers and bias that may cause Asian American children to be unreasonably removed from their homes. Mandated reporters, investigators, caseworkers, judges, and other parties in the child welfare system should learn how the immigrant experience impacts on family functioning. Each should understand the adaptations that immigrant families have to make to cope with poverty, racism, and violence in their new country. The child welfare system needs to end practices that unfairly burden families with proving their children are not at risk.
“Crossing the Divide: Asian American Families and the Child Welfare System” reviews the factors that may unnecessarily plunge a family into the child welfare system and the challenges they face within the system. This monograph also reviews the barriers within the child welfare system itself, which sometimes engulf the Asian American family. Finally, the report offers recommendations on interpretation, training, and Family Court reform.
The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families is issuing this report to substantiate the many anecdotes and case studies about Asian American families caught in the child welfare system. In compiling this issue paper, the Coalition has interviewed community-based service providers, parents, and attorneys. However, it should be noted that this report can only provide broad brushstrokes of some common barriers and shared challenges. The Asian American community is extraordinarily diverse, and the contents are not meant to suggest that all Asian American families raise their children in exactly the same manner.
