Date of Award

Spring 5-2006

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Abstract

Every year, thousands of children in the united States become a part of the child welfare system due to severe abuse or neglect by their caretakers and soon find that their lives take a drastic turn - all too often for the worse. Unfortunately, this turn for the worse occurs because there is a severe lack of qualified foster care providers that can care for these children during their time of distress. What is even more unfortunate, is that while it can be difficult to find foster care families for children of non-African descent, it has become very difficult for child welfare agencies to find foster care placement for African American children because there are just simply not enough African American families willing to become foster families. Furthermore, those foster families that are non-African American often times do not want African American children. Why is this?

While there may be many thoughts or ideas as to why foster care placement for African American children is significantly hindered, the purpose of this research project will be to answer the question of why and seek to find plausible solutions to the problem.

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