Reducing Implicit Bias: Improving Family Engagement

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Reducing Implicit Bias Improving Family
Engagement

• April 27, 2016

Walter Smith Jr. PhD Chereese Phillips, PhD
Jacki Hoover, MSW Lisa Ford, MSW Angela Steele,
MSW
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Learning Objectives

• Participants will
• Learn the difference between systemic and
  individual bias
• Understand the importance of using data to
  identify and correct bias
• Hear about strategies to improve biased decision
  making

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Agenda

• Allegheny County Overview
• Discussion of implicit bias and the way in which
  it affects staff decision making
• Disproportionality Data presentation
• Presentation of strategies to improve staff
  decision making and improve consumer engagement
• Questions and comments

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Overview

• Allegheny County Department of Human Services
  (DHS)
• DHS is responsible for providing and
  administering publically funded human services to
  Allegheny County residents
• DHS is an integrated social services system which
  includes the following offices
• Area Agency on Aging
• Office of Behavioral Health
• Office of Children, Youth and Families
• Office of Community Services
• Office of Intellectual Disabilities
• Support Offices
• Office of Administrative and Information
  Management Services
• Office of Community Relations
• Office of Data Analysis, Research and Evaluation

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Overview

• DHS Staff 900 396 contracted positions
• Clients served 220,000 or 1 in 5 County
  residents
• Budget 780 million includes
• Allegheny HealthChoices program, Juvenile Court,
  and Shuman Detention Center
• State contributions comprise 60 of budget

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OCYF Overarching Belief

• The Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF)
  believes
• Every child is entitled to protection, security
  and the essentials of life.

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Staff and Structure

• Seven regional offices
• East, North, South, Central, Mon Valley,
  Lexington Intake and Adoption
• Cases for the five family services offices are
  generally assigned by catchment area (ex. East
  Regional Office includes Penn Hills, Wilkinsburg,
  Homewood, Swissvale, Braddock, East Liberty)
• Judges are typically assigned by office
• Staff
• 608 agency staff (executive team, regional
  office directors, clinical managers, supervisors,
  case worker 1,2, and 3, case aids and clerical
• Best practice specialists, resource specialists,
  KIDS specialists, family advocates

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OCYF Overview

• Budget 233 million
• Includes Juvenile Probation and Shuman Detention
  Center
• 148 contracted providers
• 84 of budget is distributed to contracted
  providers

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OCYF Overview

• Calls Logged 2014 total (families)
• 10,353 calls of suspected child abuse/neglect
  were received by CYF
• 47 (4,865) were referred to community-based
  services
• 53 (5,488) were assessed for child welfare
  services.
• 30 of these (1,620) were accepted for child
  welfare services

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OCYF Overview

• Passage of new Child Abuse Laws January 1, 2015
• As of 2015 calls have increased by 70
• 25,626 calls received in 2015

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Clients We Serve

• In 2014 CYF served 7,922 children and 8,494
  parents received services
• In July 2015, 3,696 children in 1,718 families
  were receiving services
• 1,296 of these children were in out-of-home
  placement
• 1,082 were in foster care.
• About two-thirds of those in out-of-home
  placement were placed with kin

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Age and Gender Distribution

• 40 under age of 5
• 40 over age of 12
• 53 male
• 47 female

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Race and Ethnic Distribution

• 45 African American
• 30 Caucasian
• 11 Other single race identified
• 4 Two or more races identified
• 11 Unknown/Other
• Ethnicity
• 1 Latino 40 not Latino 59 unknown

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Key Definitions

• Implicit bias is a preference (positive or
  negative) for a social category that operates
  outside of awareness.
• Explicit bias is a conscious preference (positive
  or negative) for a social category.

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Components of Bias

• Include
• Stereotypes generalizations about the perceived
  typical characteristics of a social category
  (cognitive component).
• Prejudice how one feels about members of a given
  social category (affective component).
• Discrimination how one acts toward members of a
  given social category (behavioral component).

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Impact

• Within the context of public child welfare,
  implicit bias and biased decision making
  adversely impacts clients and case outcomes.
• Examining key decision points is imperative to
  isolate patterns of disparate or biased decision
  making.
• Staff need the opportunity to receive feedback
  and the opportunity to grow in a safe
  environment.

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• Racial Disproportionality Data

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Referral Data
  All Black White Bi/Multiracial 
Population under 18 241,663 45,552 174,938 11,877
Population 100 19 72 5
2015 Referrals 25,626 9,777 10,660 2,298
Referral Rate per 1000 106 215 61 193
2015 Investigations 18,011 7,377 7,115 1,668
Invest. Rate per 1000 75 162 41 140
2015 Accepted Cases 3,114 1,502 1,010 362
Accepted Case Rate per 1000 13 33 6 30
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Referral Data
Data inside the red box is the racial breakdown
of the general child population of Allegheny
County.
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What Does This Mean?

• A black child in Allegheny County is
• 3.5 times more likely to be referred to Child
  Protective Services
• 4 times more likely to be investigated by Child
  Protective Services
• 5.5 times more likely to have a case opened by
  Child Protective Services
• than their white counterpart

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Reporting Source
Reporting Source Black White Bi/Multiracial Other/ Unknown Total
School/Day Care 37 46 6 11 2171
Public/Private Social Service Agency 32 43 7 18 2110
Medical/Dental Provider 40 42 8 10 1739
Mental Health Provider 32 53 6 9 1682
Parent/Guardian 40 43 11 5 1116
Anonymous 27 52 12 9 1087
Other 35 45 8 13 911
Law Enforcement Agency 38 45 11 6 872
Relative 36 46 12 6 627
Courts 49 35 6 10 407
Friend/Neighbor 26 54 11 8 347
Child - Self Referral 61 30 4 6 54
Total 4640 6008 1092 1383 13123
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Removal from Home of Origin
Who do we remove from home?
Rate of Entries into Out-of-Home Placements by
Race (2015)
  Overall Population Black Children White Children  Bi/Multiracial Children
Census Population 241,663 45,552 174,938 11,877
Population 100 19 72 5
2015 Removals 1,137 515 342 128
Removal Rate per 1000 4.7 11 2 11
Black children are removed from the home at a
rate 5.5 times higher than that of white children
and 2.3 times that of the general child
population.
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Removal from Home of Origin
Why do we remove from the home?
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Removal from Home of Origin
Where are children placed?
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Strategies

• Behavior
• Training and coaching
• Feedback using data
• Reinforcement of learned behavior in supervision
• Enhanced family engagement via Conferencing and
  Teaming
• Standardized risk and safety assessment practices
  
• On the Frontline
• Predictive Analytics

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Strategies

• System Improvement Strategies
• Joint effort across systems
• Leadership Fellows
• Worker recruitment retention
• Enhanced engagement with communities that feature
  high CYF involvement
• Teen Foster Parent Recruitment

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Concluding Thoughts/Lessons Learned

• You must convince staff bias is a problem and it
  is in their own self interest to fix it,
  otherwise they may be disengaged or apathetic.
• Create a way of engaging staff in a non
  accusatory environment where they are allowed to
  make mistakes.
• You have to find a neutral language to talk about
  bias, data is neutral language to communicate the
  message.
• Expect resistance and do not interpret it
  automatically as racism, bias, or stupidity.
  Resistance occurs as part of any change.

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Questions?