Systemic Bias in Child Welfare: The Dark Side of Protecting Children The American child welfare system is designed to safeguard vulnerable children from abuse and neglect.
However, a disturbing pattern has emerged in its treatment of Black newborns and their families.
A recent analysis by The Marshall Project reveals that mothers of Black babies are disproportionately flagged to law enforcement over allegations of substance use during pregnancy, often based on unreliable hospital drug tests with false positive rates as high as 50%.