1971 - 2021
Year
Anniversary
Ahead of Our Time & Always in Time for
Race Equity and Social Justice
2021
Virtual Symposium
Reclaiming
Our Time!
An Invocation to Regain
Our Past and Present
for
Our Black Children, Youth,
Families and Communities
TA B L E O F
CONTENTS
Welcome Letter from BACW President3
Agenda at a Glance5
BACW Board6
About Our Keynote Speaker: Dr. Joy DeGruy
8
About Our Symposium Facilitators9
About Our Discussion Panel10
About Our Black Table Talk Host13
Speaker: The BACW Charge14
BACW’s Sankofa Leadership Institute15
Thriving Families, Safer Children16
BACW Race Equity Curriculum:
The 10 Race Equity Strategy Areas (RESA) 17
About BACW and Contact Information18
BACW Symposium 2021
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WELCOME FROM
BACW PRESIDENT
Welcome to BACW’s Annual Symposium!
We are grateful you made space in your schedules to join us today!
Last June, I was asked to write an op-ed for the Impact (formerly the
Chronicle of Social Change) titled “White Privilege in Child Welfare:
What Racism Looks Like.” When I revisited this piece over a year later, I contemplated what changes, if any, we have seen since that have
impacted the children, youth, families and communities we serve and
support.
The 2021 State of America’s Children report provides some information:
• Every 1 hour and 26 minutes, a Black baby dies before their
first birthday.
• Every 10 minutes, a Black baby is born into extreme poverty.
• Every 4 minutes, a Black child is confirmed abused or neglected.
Numbers do not lie, and while the intention of the many diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statements
organizations and systems are publishing is a small step, this will not deconstruct the child welfare system
to better serve our children and families. We cannot be in a mindset to change the system. Our mindset
must be deconstruction. I have been providing kinship care for over 27 years; I have been a child welfare
professional for more than 37 years; and I have been part of the system created by white bureaucracies.
And because it is a system they created, I have made sure these white bureaucracies participate in deconstructing it, but under our plan, our watch and our goals!
Words can change paradigms. This is why we deconstruct and do not rebuild. With the same intent of
changing paradigms, we titled this symposium “Reclaiming Our Time! An Invocation to Regain Our Past
and Present for Our Black Children, Youth, Families and Communities.”
• We Reclaim. This is a demand to take back ownership.
• We Invoke. We must summon our strength and passion.
• We Regain. We reach back in time and space, not for something we lost, but for something
that was taken from us.
Today’s program will provide insight into how exactly we will reclaim, invoke and regain to deconstruct
the child welfare system. We are honored to have keynote speaker Dr. Joy Angela DeGruy here today. Her work on Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) (i.e., “America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and
Healing”) addresses the residual impacts of trauma on African descendants in the Americas. To reclaim,
invoke and regain, we must heal. Dr. DeGruy will discuss how we view the past to advance our future.
BACW Symposium 2021
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As many of you know, at the BACW we are dedicated to “straight talk—with no chaser” conversations.
Our distinguished panelists today are prepared to do just that. I personally know the work of these
leaders, and they have changed paradigms of child welfare across the country. Their work and strength
have not only moved mountains, but also provided a pathway where Black children can press forward
and dream despite the racism they experience each day. We know our current child welfare system is
based on a racist paradigm. It is no coincidence that the disproportionality of our children in the system
is a result of the everyday racism that eventually leads to neglect, which invites the surveillance we term
“child welfare.”
And where we cannot be surveilled, we are extinguished, eliminated and silenced. Last week, the public
schools in Texas came closer to an educational policy that would create a community of learners who
would no longer be required to teach about various American civil rights movements in social studies
classes. Bloomberg reports that on Friday, the state Senate voted 18-4 to pass Senate Bill 3, which drops
requirements for teachers to include lessons on Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, the history of Native
Americans, the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. and other figures and documents in their curriculums.
It is a reality that new generations of children will not hear the words, “I have a dream…” Every four
seconds, a Black child is suspended from school. What will the new paradigm of education in Texas do
to this statistic?
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BACW, I ask you to envision what child welfare will look like
in 2046, when we will celebrate our 75th anniversary. What paradigms will be changed? What dreams
will be shattered? What dreams will be fulfilled?
The child welfare system we know today gnaws away at our freedom every minute of every day.
Malcom X said, “You can’t separate peace from freedom, because no one can be at peace unless he
has his freedom.” Only we can bring peace to our children by freeing ourselves of the current system in
the United States. We must reclaim our freedom in totality and invoke whatever we need to do to bring
peace to our children. And we must regain the power taken from Black families to keep our children safe
under our own eyes.
I look forward to leaning into the conversation today, with all of you.
Blessings and peace,
Dr. Sharon L. McDaniel
BACW Symposium 2021
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AGENDA AT
A GLANCE
We’re happy you are here!
1:00 P.M.
1:10 P.M.
2:00 P.M.
Opening of Symposium
Welcome & Introductions
Keynote Introduction
Discussion Panel
Video Presentation including:
Message from
Dr. Sharon McDaniel
President, BACW
Prayer of Invocation
Pastor Nathaniel L. Green
President, COGIC International
Youth Department
Negro National Anthem:
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Vonjana Knight
Dr. Alan-Michael Graves
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Joy DeGruy
Kimm Campbell
Moderator
Panel:
• Virginia Pryor
• Robert Matthews
• Dr. Alger Studstill
2:45 P.M.
Quick Break
BACW Board Greetings
2:50 P.M.
3:20 P.M.
Black Table Talk
BACW Charge
Oronde Miller
Moderator
Keith D. Bostick
Thank you for joining us!
3:30 P.M.
Closing of Symposium
Marlin Woods
Amy McDonald Cipolla-Stickles
Guest
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B AC W
BOARD 2021
President
Sharon McDaniel, PhD(c), EdD, MPA
President & CEO
A Second Chance, Inc.
1st Vice President
Keith D. Bostick, MSW
Deputy Director
Broward County Human Services
2nd Vice President
Brace Lowe
President & CEO
Lift Empowerment
Treasurer
Dr. Alan-Michael S. Graves
Director, National Programs
Good Plus Foundation
Secretary
Lisa R. Chambers
Interim Executive Vice President of Permanency,
Education, and National Engagement
A Second Chance, Inc.
Lisa Ford, LSW
Lead Social Worker
Migrant Support Services Program
Lutheran Social Services of the
National Capital Area
Mark Francis
President & CEO
Cysson Enterprises, Inc.
Rebecca Jones Gaston, MSW
Child Welfare Director
Oregon DHS
Margo Harris
Executive Director
Grace Hopper STEM Academy
Joyce James, LMSW, AP
Racial Equity Consultant
Joyce James Consulting, LLC
Stacy Johnson, MSW, JD
Interim Managing Director of CFS - IHCS, Respite
and Kinship
A Second Chance, Inc.
Dr. David Brock
Bishop
Love Fellowship Church of Pittsburgh
Chad Dion Lassiter, MSW
President of Black Men at Penn School
of Social Work
School of Social Policy and Practice
University of Pennsylvania
Kimm R. Campbell, MSW, LCSW
Assistant County Administrator
Broward County Human Services
Nathaniel Lewis
President
Skyworks Aerial Solutions
Dr. Ollie Collier-Jones, PhD, LISW-S
President & CEO
Heart to Heart Family Support Center
Oronde Miller, MA
Program Officer
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Donald J. Dew, MSW, ACSW
President & CEO
Habilitative Systems, Inc.
Yakiciwey Mitchell, MSW
Consultant
Edifying Nations Consulting
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B AC W
BOARD 2021
Dr. Sherri Dr. Simmons-Horton PhD, LMSW
Assistant Professor of Social Work
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Dr. William E. Smith
Mental Health Behavior Specialist
Miami Dade County Public School
Lisa Thorpe-Vaughn
Executive Director
AYA Institute
Dr. Annetta Wilson
Director
SANKOFA Safe Child Institute
Emeritus Board Members
Howard E. Prunty
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Keynote Speaker
EDUCATOR, TRAINER, AUTHOR
Dr. Joy Angela DeGruy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication, a Master's degree in Social
Work (MSW), a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology, and a PhD in Social Work Research. Dr. DeGruy is a
nationally and internationally renowned researcher and educator. For over two decades, she served as an
Assistant Professor at Portland State University’s School of Social Work and now serves as President and
Chief Executive Officer of Joy DeGruy Publications Inc.
Dr. DeGruy’s research focuses on the intersection of racism, trauma, violence and American chattel
slavery. She has over thirty years of practical experience as a professional in the field of social work. She
conducts workshops and trainings in the areas of intergenerational/Historical trauma, mental health,
social justice, improvement strategies and evidence based model development.
Published Works:
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS): America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, (newly
revised) which addresses the residual impacts of trauma on African Descendants in the Americas. This
lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the
discussion of how we can eliminate non-productive attitudes, beliefs and adaptive behaviors and, build
upon the strengths we have gained from the past to heal.
PTSS Study Guide is designed to help individuals, groups, and organizations better understand the
functional and dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors that have been transmitted to us through
multiple generations. The Guide encourages and broadens the discussion and implications about the
specific issues that were raised in the PTSS book and provides practical tools to help transform
negative attitudes and behaviors into positive ones.
African American Male Adolescent Respect Scale is an assessment instrument designed to broaden
our understanding of the challenges facing these youth in an effort to prevent their overrepresentation in the justice system.
Dr. DeGruy has published numerous refereed journal articles and many esteemed leaders have praised the
book including Randall Robinson.
“Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome is a master work...Her book is the balm we need to heal ourselves and our
relationships. It is the gift of wholeness.” -Susan Taylor, Editorial Director of Essence Magazine
“Dr. Joy DeGruy’s mesmerizing, riveting book is vital reading for our time...With Dr. DeGruy’s potent words
we can and will heal.” -Adelaide Sanford, Vice Chancellor of the Board of Regents for the State of New York
In addition to her pioneering work in the explanatory theory and book, Dr. DeGruy has developed
evidence-based models for working with children, youth, and adults of color and their communities.
Info@joydegruy.com • www.joydegruy.com
8
SYMPOSIUM
FACILITATORS
Kimm R. Campbell, MSW, LCSW
Assistant County Administrator - Broward County
With more than 24 years of state, local, and non-profit experience, Kimm
Campbell serves as Assistant County Administrator. She joined the staff at
Broward County in October of 2012, and previously served as the Human
Services Department Director.
Ms. Campbell has provided leadership, direct services, and consultative
services in adult and child mental health, child welfare, special education,
juvenile justice, domestic violence, rape crisis, homelessness, and substance abuse. Ms. Campbell has designed family support services frameworks for housing authorities, standardized supportive services within school districts, and created
juvenile predisposition and detention transition services for incarcerated youth. She has established
statewide standards for domestic violence abuser treatment programs and participated in the development of state children’s mental health plans that reduce the reliance on inappropriate group home and
residential treatment for children who should be served in their communities. She lead the development
of the Dismantling Racism Initiative in Broward County, within which the Racial Equity in Child Welfare
Taskforce is situated.
Dr. Alan-Michael S. Graves
Director of National Programs, Good Plus Foundation
Dr. Alan-Michael S. Graves serves as the Director of National Programs with
the Good Plus Foundation, where he focuses on a broad range of multidisciplinary activities, from research and program development to training and
advocacy or policy change. Currently leading a national fatherhood initiative on policy change and training social workers in Los Angeles County on
Fatherhood Engagement, Alan-Michael has worked in the human-services
field, with extensive experience as a facilitator and administrator, for both
public and private agencies, for the past 17 years.
He has brought these diverse perspectives to his work helping agencies
develop, implement and evaluate interagency systems of care, family partnerships and community
programming. With a doctorate in Educational Leadership, Dr. Graves he utilizes his knowledge and
experience to strategically and positively impact the lives of children through his work with parents.
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DISCUSSION
PA N E L I S T
Virginia Pryor
Chief Deputy Director, Los Angeles County Department of
Children and Family Services
Virginia Pryor was appointed Chief Deputy Director of DCFS in
December 2019. She has 30 years of experience in child welfare
and social policy with a focus on bringing tangible hope to organizations and communities through human service innovation,
leadership development, and strategic system and policy reform.
Ms. Pryor most recently served as the Senior Director of the
Casey Family Programs Los Angeles Field Office, and previously
as the Director of the Georgia Division of Family and Children
Services – overseeing Child Welfare and the Office of Family
Independence. Prior to her work in Georgia she served for over
11 years with Casey Family Programs, a national child welfare
foundation based in Seattle, Washington.
Her commitment to hope and inspiration also extends to her volunteer work as a mentor for youth in the
foster care system, as well as her service as past Board Member and President of the Black Administrators in Child Welfare (BACW) – an organization whose mission is to advocate for culturally appropriate
services for African American children and families in the child welfare system. She has also served as
Adjunct Faculty for the Schools of Social Work at Howard University and Virginia Commonwealth University, working to prepare the next generation of child welfare advocates.
Ms. Pryor is also the Principal of Immersion Consulting, which allows her to demonstrate purposeful
inspiration by building the capacity of individuals, groups and organizations to both lead and serve.
As the largest child protective services agency in the nation, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and
Family Services is responsible for ensuring the safety of
more than 2 million children across 88 diverse cities in Los
Angeles County.
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DISCUSSION
PA N E L I S T
Robert L. Matthews
Acting Director of Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA)
for the District of Columia
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Matthews served as the Principal
Deputy Director of (CFSA) from September 2019-July 2021. In
this role Robert oversaw the daily programmatic operations of
the agency such as: Program Operations which houses the foster
care Permanency Administration, foster parent recruitment and
support, kinship support and licensing, The Office of Youth Empowerment which is all older youth independent living programming, Entry Services which houses the In-Home Administration,
Child Protective Services Investigations Administration and Child
Protective Services Support Services Administration which include the child abuse and neglect hotline, diligent search, institutional abuse unit and the educational neglect triage and social
work units, and The Office of Well-Being which houses the clinical
and health services.
In June 2012 Robert joined the District of Columbia’s Child & Family Services Agency (CFSA). While
there he served as the Placement & Kinship Services Administrator developing the districts “Kin-First”
initiative. Mr. Matthews has also served as the Deputy of Entry Services and Deputy Director of Community Partnership for CFSA.
Additionally, he served as Senior Associate with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Assistant Commissioner of Adult and Family Services for the Tennessee Department of Human Services and Chief of Staff for
Maryland’s Social Services Administration. Robert has been a national presenter for the 2019 and 2014
Child Welfare League of America Conference, 2014 National Family Foster Treatment Association Conference and the 2009 Black Administrators on Child Welfare Conference.
The District of Columbia (DC) Child and Family Services Agency
(CFSA or Agency) has the unique function of providing both local
and “state” child welfare functions for the jurisdiction.
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DISCUSSION
PA N E L I S T
Dr. Alger M. Studstill, Jr.
Deputy Director of Protection & Safety, Children and Family
Services Division of the Nebraska Department of Health and
Human Services
As a proven leader in business and faith-based organizations, Dr.
Alger Studstill, Jr. has the extensive experience in strategic management, managing multidisciplinary teams, innovative leadership,
facilitating charismatic trainings, and motivating individuals/team to
fulfill their PURPOSE.
With over 10 years of Child Welfare leadership service in Florida
and currently in Nebraska as Deputy Director of Protection and
Safety for Children and Family Services Division overseeing operations for child protection, adult protection, independent living, and abuse hotline, and has served over
15 years of serving as a community leader. Alger has a special tact for operational management, public
policy, innovative approaches, and leadership development through creative presentations. Powered
by his personal vision and purpose to “Empower people to walk in their PURPOSE on PURPOSE!”. He
is an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, Black Administrators in Child Welfare,
and member of racial equity committee with Child Welfare League of America and has served on several community taskforces and boards, adjunct faculty member, and recently completed his Doctorate in
Business and Public Administration.
Alger has spoken to audiences of 5-5,000 young people, college students, and professionals alike,
motivating change and bridging the gap between current positioning and desired direction. With his
experience, academic knowledge, skills, passion for empowering others, combined with being member
of the John Maxwell Team, allows him to add value and empower you to walk in your POTENTIAL and
PURPOSE.
The mission of the Division of Children and Family Services is to provide the least disruptive services when needed, for only as long as
needed to give children the opportunity to succeed as adults, help
the elderly and disabled live with dignity and respect and help families
care for themselves. Our mission will result in healthier families and
safer, more prosperous communities.
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BLACK TABLE TALK
HOST & GUEST
Oronde Miller
Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Oronde Miller is a program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
(WKKF). As a member of the Racial Equity and Community Engagement team, he participates in the development of programming priorities, recommends proposals for funding, and implements national
grant initiatives and multi-year projects. Mr. Miller has over 20 years of
experience working with organizations helping to promote improved
life outcomes for children and their families.
Prior to joining the foundation, he developed and directed a national
leadership institute aimed at helping professionals of color make sense of the experience of race, racism, and culture in the operations of public child welfare systems, and assisted in developing and coordinating a national and city-focused technical assistance strategy for Cities United, a national effort to
reduce violence and violence-related deaths among African American boys and young men. Mr. Miller
was a member of the inaugural class of the WKKF Community Leadership Network fellowship program
as part of the racial equity and racial healing cohort, and he led multiple efforts to eliminate racial disparities within the nation’s child welfare, juvenile justice, and education systems, including the Alliance
for Racial Equity in Child Welfare at the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, DC, and
several national and place-specific efforts while with Casey Family Programs in Seattle, Washington.
Amy McDonald Cipolla-Stickles
Diversity Consultant
With more than two decades of experience in racial justice and leadership development, Amy McDonald Cipolla-Stickles operates at the apex
of multicultural leadership and facilitation. Nationally recognized for her
work, Amy employs methodologies designed to drive systemic change for
children and families whose lives have been disrupted by human and social
service agencies. Amy brings the voices and experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA); and those who are
typically marginalized to the core of the conversation about change in the child welfare and juvenile
justice systems.
As a senior equity fellow at Evident Change, Amy is part of a team of experts who center race to improve organizational capacity and justice. She also provides coaching for national and international
philanthropy executives. She previously served as Director of Equity and Senior Program Specialist at
Evident Change.
Amy’s international work includes leading professional development within the Department of Child
Safety, Youth and Women in Queensland, Australia, in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander families, internal staff, and community providers.
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SPEAKER: THE
BACW CHARGE
Keith D. Bostick
Deputy Director, Broward County Human Services
Deputy Director Keith D. Bostick is responsible for the leadership and
administration of multi-dimensional programs associated with innovative and integrated health and social services in Broward County. He
renders supervision and guidance to leaders and staff in the divisions/offices of:
• Crisis Intervention and Support (CISD)
• Family Success Administration (FSAD)
• Community Partnerships (CPD)
• Broward Addiction Recovery Center (BARC)
• Elderly and Veterans Services (EVSD)
• Equity and Community Investment (OECI)
• Evaluation and Planning (OEP)
• Administrative Services (OAS)
Also, he is responsible for oversight of 660 staff and a $166 million budget serving nearly two million of
Broward County's most vulnerable citizens.
Bostick is a 38-year veteran of Child Welfare and Human Services and formally served in Santa Cruz
County, California as Director of Child Welfare Services. As Director, Bostick provided oversight and
leadership to a dynamic and innovative human services jurisdiction working in partnership with California's Department of Social Services (CDSS). Bostick also served the State of Georgia as the Deputy
Division Director of Child Welfare. As Deputy Director for the Georgia Department of Human Services’
Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), Bostick oversaw child welfare operations in the field
and at the state office (serving 14,000 children, 5000 staff and a $925 million budget).
A native of Savannah, Georgia, Bostick earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Child Development
and Psychology from Morehouse College and a Master of Clinical Social Work (MSW) from the University of Georgia. Bostick is the Vice President on the Board of Directors for Black Administrators in Child
Welfare (BACW), a national child welfare advocacy organization, focusing on African-American children,
families, communities and the services and systems that support them. Keith has spent his lifetime
attempting to improve outcomes for America's most vulnerable through the changing of 1) minds, 2)
hearts, and 3) wills of people, their practice and their processes. In his spare time, you can find Keith on
the fairways of a golf course earnestly working on lowering his 12 handicap. Bostick has two daughters
and lives South Florida. Keith’s motto is: “Families who need our help also need our HOPE.”
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Launching January 2022 on the Campus
of Johnson C. Smith University
The Sankofa Leadership Institute is specifically designed
to utilize the existing natural skills and talents of African-American leaders to advance the child welfare space
from a pure anti-racist lens.
SANKOFA INSTITUTE
for African-American
Executive & Emerging
Child Welfare Leaders
Black Administrators
in Child Welfare
The current child welfare situation in the United States is not acceptable for children of color. We must ensure the Black experience
becomes a part of the awareness, understanding and service delivery
of child welfare agencies throughout the nation to better serve Black
children and families in a manner that enriches their lives.
This is an experience—not merely a course—that emphasizes moving
your leadership from transactional to transformational. Sessions are
minds-on, hands-on and real. We are meeting you where you are to
amplify your existing leadership competency and skills that will distinguish you in the field of
child welfare.
Institute Highlights:
This is a national program in order to build a collective
voice and an ongoing network of alumni connectivity that
is informed and empathetic toward the families we serve.
The program is focused on providing the platform for the
capacity-building needed to inform child welfare from
an anti-racist lens. Group sessions, as well as dedicated
mentoring with an established African-American leader,
are designed to meet your specific needs, answer your
specific questions and heighten your specific leadership
style. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach.
• Engagement with a wide
range of professionals from
academia,
business and child welfare.
Sankofa (pronounced SAHN-koh-fah) is a word in the Akan
Twi and Fante languages of Ghana that translates to "retrieve" (literally "go back and get;" san - to return; ko - to
go; fa - to fetch, to seek and take) and also refers to the
Bono Adinkra symbol represented either with a stylized
heart shape or by a bird with its head turned backward while
its feet face forward carrying a precious egg in its mouth.
Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi
na wosankofa a yenkyi," or “Sankofa w’onkyir,” which translates to, "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have
forgotten. (Wikipedia)
• A network of peers with whom
you can exchange information
and build support networks.
BACW Symposium 2021
• Individualized programming,
coaching and mentoring that
can be applied in real time.
• Personal development plans
with benchmarks to mark your
successes.
• Attention to the business acumen of child welfare necessary for strategic planning and
program implementation.
• An intentional race-competency framework, critical for Black
leaders in becoming effective
and impactful maneuvering
systems and institutions.
15
BACW’s Important Role in...
THRIVING FAMILIES, SAFER CHILDREN
To engage leaders from other sectors in the national dialogue around race equity and disparate outcomes, Casey Family Programs (CFP) awarded the BACW a grant to build capacity in expanding its
impact and to update and use the Racial Equity Strategy Areas (RESA) framework in the national initiative of Thriving Families, Safer Children (TFSC), which has been described as a “first-of-its-kind national
partnership [that] aims to redesign child welfare into child and family well-being systems.”
CFP is supporting the BACW and its members to become directly involved with CFP in key priority
efforts around child welfare transformation, including the TFSC effort, which is led by CFP, the Annie E.
Casey Foundation, Prevent Child Abuse America and the U.S. Children’s Bureau. The initiative comprises
three tiers of action:
Tier 1: Select jurisdictions will serve as demonstration sites, collaborating with the initiative’s partners
for intensive technical support and resources to help realize their goal of creating child and family
well-being systems.
Tier 2: The initiative will partner with jurisdictions to focus on policy and systemic reforms at the
state, tribal or territorial level.
Tier 3: The initiative will share lessons learned to help inform and inspire other jurisdictions in launching their own journeys in building child well-being systems.
Tier 1 work will soon begin in California/L.A. County, Colorado, Nebraska and South Carolina. The initiative is working to identify and invite Tier 2 jurisdictions.
Some BACW highlights include:
• A virtual training conducted for the PA Council of Children, Youth and Family Services Trade
Association (80 agencies) called “Race and Equity: Transactional vs. Transformational Efforts
Needed for Child Welfare.”
• A two-day “Groundwater” training
for CFP staff and leaders facilitated
by Joyce James, LCSW, of Joyce
James Consulting.
• Continued technical assistance to
Colorado TFSC jurisdiction.
The BACW has created and is piloting a
five-phase engagement process to address the outcomes of TFSC.
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BACW Race Equity Curriculum: The 10 Race Equity
Strategy Areas (RESA)
RESA is a system of ensuring that best practices are developed through a race equity lens, informed
by anti-racist practice and embrace a conceptual framework for understanding and achieving anti-racist policies and practices in child welfare. There are 10 strategy areas BACW promotes, which when in
place, can equip child welfare administrators, managers, supervisors and workers with strategies that improve service outcomes for children and families of
color and reduce treatment disparities and over-representation. For each strategy
area, there is a context provided, offering a framework or perspective. There are
specific standards outlined, which state and local governments can implement to
create a racially equitable service system. There are also suggested action steps
for practice and policy inclusion and highlights that provide supporting research
and promising practices or
models.
Reducing Disparities:
These RESAs, as identified by the BACW, are as
b.a.c.w.
10 Racial Equity Strategy Areas for Improving Outcomes
for African American Children in Child Welfare
follows:
Black Administrators in Child Welfare
1.
Data: Innovative
2.
Finance: Creative and Flexible
3.
Engagement: Parent and Community
4.
Kinship Services: Effective and Appropriate Use
5.
Youth: Informed Practice
6.
Education: Collaboration and Partnerships
7.
Health: Thriving Children, Youth and
Families
8.
Legal Services: Culturally Informed
and Competent
9.
Leadership: Culturally Competent
10. Program: Policies, Practice, Review
and Analysis
The Black Administrators in Child Welfare: A Guide to Practice and Policy Development
“State and local governments, with federal support,
must have strategies in place for achieving racial equity
to ensure sustained and positive outcomes for African
American children and families who come to the
attention of the child welfare system.”
- BACW Board of Directors
This publication was made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, Michigan
1
These RESAs are designed to be compatible with
standards such as those established by the Council on Accreditation or the Child Welfare League of
America. They may also be integrated with other practice or policy information that guides the service
delivery system of a particular organization. When used consistently, they provide increased opportunity
to utilize a racial equity lens in the development of policies, practices and procedures that are being used
in agencies serving African American children.
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The Black Administrators in Child Welfare, Inc. is a group that was formed in 1971 and incorporated in New
York in 1975. The organization was formed to address the reluctance of child welfare agencies to respond
appropriately to the need for specialized services for Black children and their families, and to press for the
employment of Black professionals in responsible administrative positions. The organization also served as a
support network for the small number of Black executives running child welfare and human service agencies.
Headquarters
7625 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 300, Bethesda, MD 20814
240.482.4968
bacw@blackadministrators.org
blackadministrators.org
BACW Chapters
Chicago, IL
Leads: Jackie Bright
Florida (Broward County)
Leads: Keith Bostick and Mark Francis
Georgia
Leads: Lisa Chambers and Nathaniel Lewis
Los Angeles, CA
Leads: Dr. Alan-Michael Graves and Yakiciwey Mitchell
Philadelphia, PA
Leads: Dr. Sharon McDaniel, Brace Lowe Sr. and Chad Lassiter
Texas
Leads: Joyce James and Lisa Thorpe-Vaughn
BACW Symposium 2021
18
Year
Anniversary
1971 - 2021
Ahead of Our Time & Always In Time for Race Equity and Social Justice
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
CONTACT INFORMATION
Name
Street
City
State
Zip Code
Email
Cell
Telephone
Work
Home
MEMBERSHIP LEVEL
Membership Type:
New Membership
Renewal Membership
Membership Level:
$50 Student
$125 Individual
$1,500 Agency/Organization
$2,500 Corporate
PAYMENT
Check/money order enclosed. Make checks payable to BACW and mail to address below:
BACW, Membership Department | 7625 Wisconsin Avenue, Ste. 300 | Bethesda, MD 20814
Visa or Mastercard
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Credit card membership fees can be made online at www.blackadministrators.org
BACW will not exchange or sell your contact information.
BACW is a 501c3 organization supported by its members, foundations and individual donations.