Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020

Jing, Yongchao; Bailey, Grace A; Cheung, Sin Yi; Griffiths, Lucy; Scourfield, Jonathan

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcae117

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Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020

Yongchao Jing

, Grace A Bailey, Sin Yi Cheung, Lucy Griffiths

, Jonathan Scourfield

The British Journal of Social Work, Volume: 54, Issue: 8, Pages: 3568 - 3589

Swansea University Author: Lucy Griffiths

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DOI (Published version): 10.1093/bjsw/bcae117

Abstract

Children’s chances of contact with the child welfare system at different stages vary significantly by their ethnicity. This study goes beyond recent UK studies on the scale of ethnic differences in children in care or on protection plans by improving data completeness through data linkage, consideri...

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Published in:	The British Journal of Social Work
ISSN:	0045-3102 1468-263X
Published:	Oxford University Press (OUP) 2024
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68947

first_indexed	2025-02-23T16:01:37Z
last_indexed	2025-03-14T04:21:02Z
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spelling	2025-03-12T15:08:15.6108447 v2 68947 2025-02-23 Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020 e35ea6ea4b429e812ef204b048131d93 0000-0001-9230-624X Lucy Griffiths Lucy Griffiths true false 2025-02-23 MEDS Children’s chances of contact with the child welfare system at different stages vary significantly by their ethnicity. This study goes beyond recent UK studies on the scale of ethnic differences in children in care or on protection plans by improving data completeness through data linkage, considering the ethnic patterns in the wider population of children in need or receiving care and support, and reporting trends over time. We contribute to the literature on ethnic disproportionality in the child welfare system by reporting the patterns in Wales from 2011 to 2020. The trend of ethnic disproportionality was distinct from the changes in the absolute number of children in the child social welfare system by ethnicity. Over the ten-year period, Mixed-heritage children were the most overrepresented and Asian children the most underrepresented, with fluctuations in the level of overrepresentation between 1.1 and 1.5 and underrepresentation between 0.5 and 0.7. The level of representation for Black children fluctuated considerably between 0.8 and 1.2 over the years. The overall level of ethnic disproportionality in Wales increased from 2011 to 2016 and then decreased from 2017 to 2020. Ethnic disproportionality appeared more pronounced amongst girls and in age groups zero to four and sixteen to seventeen. Journal Article The British Journal of Social Work 54 8 3568 3589 Oxford University Press (OUP) 0045-3102 1468-263X administrative data linkage, children in need, children receiving care and support, child welfare, ethnic disproportionality 1 12 2024 2024-12-01 10.1093/bjsw/bcae117 COLLEGE NANME Medical School COLLEGE CODE MEDS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee Funding support for this article was provided by the Health and Care Research Wales (SCG-21-1821). 2025-03-12T15:08:15.6108447 2025-02-23T15:22:58.6759863 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science Yongchao Jing 0000-0002-1257-4509 1 Grace A Bailey 2 Sin Yi Cheung 3 Lucy Griffiths 0000-0001-9230-624X 4 Jonathan Scourfield 0000-0001-6218-8158 5 68947__33800__d80e1c6918254398a340edc5c491d7cb.pdf 68947.VoR.pdf 2025-03-12T15:05:44.7364126 Output 1389810 application/pdf Version of Record true Copyright: The Author(s) 2024. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020
spellingShingle	Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020 Lucy Griffiths
title_short	Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020
title_full	Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020
title_fullStr	Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020
title_full_unstemmed	Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020
title_sort	Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020
author_id_str_mv	e35ea6ea4b429e812ef204b048131d93
author_id_fullname_str_mv	e35ea6ea4b429e812ef204b048131d93_***_Lucy Griffiths
author	Lucy Griffiths
author2	Yongchao Jing Grace A Bailey Sin Yi Cheung Lucy Griffiths Jonathan Scourfield
format	Journal article
container_title	The British Journal of Social Work
container_volume	54
container_issue	8
container_start_page	3568
publishDate	2024
institution	Swansea University
issn	0045-3102 1468-263X
doi_str_mv	10.1093/bjsw/bcae117
publisher	Oxford University Press (OUP)
college_str	Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id	facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id	facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title	Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str	Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science
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description	Children’s chances of contact with the child welfare system at different stages vary significantly by their ethnicity. This study goes beyond recent UK studies on the scale of ethnic differences in children in care or on protection plans by improving data completeness through data linkage, considering the ethnic patterns in the wider population of children in need or receiving care and support, and reporting trends over time. We contribute to the literature on ethnic disproportionality in the child welfare system by reporting the patterns in Wales from 2011 to 2020. The trend of ethnic disproportionality was distinct from the changes in the absolute number of children in the child social welfare system by ethnicity. Over the ten-year period, Mixed-heritage children were the most overrepresented and Asian children the most underrepresented, with fluctuations in the level of overrepresentation between 1.1 and 1.5 and underrepresentation between 0.5 and 0.7. The level of representation for Black children fluctuated considerably between 0.8 and 1.2 over the years. The overall level of ethnic disproportionality in Wales increased from 2011 to 2016 and then decreased from 2017 to 2020. Ethnic disproportionality appeared more pronounced amongst girls and in age groups zero to four and sixteen to seventeen.
published_date	2024-12-01T08:18:42Z
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Ethnic Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System: A Welsh Linked Administrative Data Study for 2011–2020

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