due process

The push to embrace “predictive analytics,” an unreliable, racially biased method in which algorithms “inform” the decisions of caseworkers – decisions such as when to tear apart a family – is led largely by the same people who deny the very existence of a racial bias problem in child welfare, want to see far more families torn apart, or both.

In the past few years, we’ve learned a lot of ugly truths about the criminal justice system. (By “we,” I mean, those of us who are white and middle class. Poor people and people of color have known all along.)

Two recent child welfare columns in this publication make me wonder if Captain Obvious has taken early retirement. 1. IF THAT’S HOW THEY TREAT FOSTER PARENTS… Jim Kenny has posted a series of columns on the appalling problem of false allegations of child abuse and lack of due process – for foster parents.