Poverty, social disadvantage, and the black/white placement gap

In this paper, we examine whether county-level measures of poverty and social disadvantage are correlated with county-level variation in the black/white foster care placement gap. The black/white placement gap refers to the fact that when the rate of placement into foster care for black children is compared to the rate for white children living in the same area, the black placement rate is almost always higher than the rate for whites. Although differential exposure to poverty is often used to explain why the placement gap is so large, the problem has rarely been studied. Using Poisson event count models, we find that poverty, measured at the county ecological level, is associated with a narrower gap rather than a wider gap. The counterintuitive finding is due to the fact that the relationship between poverty and placement rates depends on race.

► We use Poisson count models to explore the black/white placement gap.
► The analysis considers poverty and its relationship to the placement gap.
► The findings suggest that the gap is narrower in counties with higher poverty rates.
► Placement rates generally are affected more by white poverty than black poverty.