By Dianne Anderson

Somehow Black kids end up somewhere in the lurch of the foster system, and again and again, there never seems to be enough services or volunteers to go around.

For any number of reasons, Black children and youth are pushed deep into the foster system, about three times as likely as white kids to be the subject of an allegation and almost five-and-a-half times more likely to be in foster care, according to the state Legislative Analyst’s Office.

“We’ve looked at the kids we get referred and the kids that we serve, and it is true that children of color, not just Black kids, Hispanic kids, any kids of color, unfortunately, when you compare it to the demographic in the county, are disproportionate,” said Sharon Morris, managing director of Voices for Children, a nonprofit that provides CASA volunteers in Riverside County.

Morris said her nonprofit does not decide whether children are removed from their homes, that role belongs to Riverside County’s Department of Public Social Services.

But once a child enters the system, Court Appointed Special Advocates can step in to help those who fall through the cracks.  She estimates that Black residents make up about 8% of Riverside County’s population, and Black children about 10% of youth in foster care.

Their volunteers help pick up the pieces, bringing the child’s concerns to social workers, attorneys and the court.

She is also watching whether “blind removal” processes, where reviewers evaluate cases without access to demographic or race details, can help address racial disparities. A UCLA study of two Los Angeles County DCFS offices found that fewer children were removed over the study period, but Black children remained overrepresented in removals at both offices.

Poverty plays a role, she said, not because low-income parents are incapable of caring for their children, but because over-policed neighborhoods face heavier scrutiny and mandated reporting.

“Of course, we’d be silly to say it doesn’t play a part,” she said. “It does, but it is not a reason to remove a child.”

Getting enough volunteers to serve more children is another big limitation, along with funding. Up to 6,000 children touch Riverside’s foster system annually, and VFC served 788 last year.

Anyone involved in a child’s life can request a CASA, including a foster parent, teacher, social worker, attorney, judge or sometimes the child. Children enter a waitpool, but matching can take longer when a requested Black male advocate or Spanish-speaking volunteer isn’t available.

Morris, a white woman from England, said she didn’t come to understand racial gaps in foster care through statistics. As a CASA in San Diego County in 2010, the same year she became an American citizen, she was inspired by a video of President Obama played at her citizenship ceremony.

“He said, now you’re a citizen, you should get back to community and I found CASA in San Diego County and I became a CASA, for two siblings, five and seven,” she said.

It opened her eyes to cultural blind spots in the system. She advocated for two mixed-race Black children whose parents had died. They kept asking her, “Can you do my hair?”

“That really stayed with me. When you are not of color, you just don’t think about, and I made sure that I advocated in the courtroom with her social workers for product to get her hair styled by somebody who knew what they were doing,” she said.

Since then, she has pushed for a Riverside County program that brings in people familiar with Black hair.

“It certainly made me aware and made me think and always tried to advocate,” she said. “There is nothing better than having somebody who is in your corner, who knows how it feels to look like you, to be raised maybe the way you were raised, to have family that looks like you.”

Years ago, she remembers watching her foster kids in a big chain store, noticing how they would just gravitate to anyone who looked like them.

They needed that cultural connection.

“If he saw a Black male in the store, I would see him try to walk over and say hello. He just wanted somebody who looked like him, to acknowledge him,” she said.

While CASA classes teach dependency law, trauma and implicit bias, she said cultural connection makes a difference, whether it’s someone who knows what a quinceañera is or speaks Spanish because mom and dad only speak Spanish.

Volunteers are much more than mentors, committed to getting to know a child for at least 12 months  They advocate for children in school, flag problems with placements, alert social workers and judges to children’s needs, from eyeglasses and school clothes to tutoring or extracurricular activities

Right now, they welcome all who want to learn more about how they can help a child, and are especially looking to expand their outreach with Black fraternities and alumni from different universities.

The good news is word of mouth travels. In running the program for the past 11 years, they’ve found that their roughly 450 volunteers often tell their friends, who tell their friends.

Ron Salary is one of those volunteers.

Salary, a Torrance police sergeant and CASA volunteer since April 2023, was honored as CASA Volunteer of the Year last December.

From the courtroom to the classroom, he pushed for resources for the young man he serves, writing detailed court reports and advocating before the judge for funding for activities, a math tutor, driving lessons and a bike to help him get home after events.

He attended IEP meetings and award ceremonies, encouraged the youth to pursue a part-time job, helped him take the steps needed to obtain his driver’s license, and also introduced him to opportunities such as professional theater productions.

In the last year of high school, the young man had already been accepted into several four-year universities.

“All children in the foster care system deserve someone who will speak up for their interests. As a CASA, I celebrate my youth’s successes as if they were my own, and I highly encourage anyone who is considering it to volunteer. All you need to do is show up consistently as you are.”

For more information, see:

Become a CASA Volunteer at: https://www.speakupnow.org/riverside-county-casa-volunteers-needed-male-bilingual/

LAO California’s Child Welfare System: Addressing Disproportionalities and Disparities, https://www.lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4897

Annie C Casey Foundation report https://www.aecf.org/blog/child-welfare-and-foster-care-statistics