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The poor as stakeholders
The poor as stakeholders
http://www.newsandtribune.com/opinio...yword=topstory The Indiana Commission on Disproportionality in Youth Services held a forum at Indiana University Southeast Wednesday evening. Those interested in disproportional minority representation in the areas of juvenile justice, mental health, child welfare and education were invited to participate. Disproportionality is the difference between a group’s representation in the overall population compared to their representation within a given group. Minorities are generally overrepresented in the areas listed above. The commission, created by the General Assembly, is also taking on concerns of disparities in how services are delivered. This was the stated purpose for the meeting. There were unfortunate aspects of the event. There was little attendance or contribution by the general public, and only a fraction of the comments were entirely relevant to the stated purpose. The handful of relevant comments were provided mostly by Clark County NAACP’s Gary Leavell who spoke to concerns about Clark County youth of color being profiled by police and being more harshly punished by the juvenile courts and schools. A woman involved with providing foster care also testified she had seen children of different races treated differently within that system with the white children experiencing better outcomes. Of the 33 individuals appointed to the commission, only four attended, two arriving late. The makeup of the commission is somewhat disturbing as there is only one slot for a youth who has had contact with these systems and no spot for parents specifically. The single most distressing fact of the process is the overrepresentation of organizations, as opposed to individuals, in the makeup of the commission and forum participants. Much of the focus was actually on the delivering of services to families in general. The elephant in the living room which was clearly being addressed by the mostly white group wasn’t racism and wasn’t explicitly stated: poverty. It’s true there is an overrepresentation of minorities is these systems. However, there is also a disproportionate representation of minorities among the poor, and poverty is the more likely culprit in poor outcomes in these systems. With few exceptions, most of the issues addressed apply to the poor as a multi-racial group. I discussed this seeming omission of poverty issues with commission member James Garrett who represents the Indiana Committee on the Social Status of Black Males. Garrett agreed poverty was the unspoken cause of the problems under discussion, and gave a surprising answer about the focus on race and ethnicity. Garrett lamented it is currently considered elitist to discuss the poor as a group or discuss class as an issue. That may well be the case, but I suspect that is hardly the entire explanation. A piece by Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts published last week bears the headline, “Who speaks for the poor?” In the context of the still-allowable jokes about “white trash” Pitts points out there is nothing equivalent to the NAACP for poor white folks. Further, though the issues affecting the poor of various races are mostly similar, this socio-economic group tends to be the most hostile toward other races and therefore unable to work together as a group. Among the members of any racial or ethnic group, there are going to be some affluent members who can represent that group’s interests in a way the poor as a group cannot. Those struggling to make ends meet do not have the time to form organizations, send out press releases and the like. In my own research a few years ago focusing on Child Protective Services (Department of Child Services in Indiana), I found the poor as a group were incapable of holding the state accountable for its actions towards them. Lack of access to media, attorneys and the resources to be politically active contribute to the problem. Instead of hearing about poverty issues from the people actually experiencing poverty, those in power hear from organizations dealing with poverty for a living. Though all of the college-educated white folk in attendance at Wednesday’s forum did appear to sincerely care about the children state actions affect, most currently make a living from the systems they point to as harmful failures and will be better off if the commission makes recommendations that benefit their particular programs. Interestingly though, as the meeting wore on, few of the suggestions attendees put forth that would really help troubled and poor children were ones necessary for the commission to recommend to the state legislature. Being more involved in our communities, focusing less or material things, taking responsibility for the kids around us, volunteering as a mentor, being a role model, giving a kid a job, these things were all discussed and would go much further to actually have a positive impact in kids’ lives than any state program. It should also be made clear there was some consensus that these state systems are currently treating kids unfairly and doing harm. No one pointed to a current state program with praise. The following was sent to me in response to last week’s column: “The state is now more involved than it has ever been in the raising of children, and children are now more neglected, abused, and mistreated than they have been in our time. This is not a coincidence, and, with all due respect, I am here to tell you: It does not take a village to raise a child. It takes a family.” — Senator Robert Dole Jeffersonville resident Kelley Curran considered pointing out that legislative commissions are disproportionally ineffective, but she knows the legislature would only propose a commission to study the problem. Write her at . |
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