Promoting Unbiased and Inclusive Care

This page is intended to assist child abuse professionals by providing knowledge and skills to support unbiased and inclusive care of children suspected of being maltreated or abused.

Facts

• Failure to identify child abuse due to racial, ethnic, and cultural biases has severe consequences.¹
• Racial disproportionality is prevalent in child abuse reporting and the child protection system.²
• Differences in child upbringing practices exist, where the effects of various cultural practices may be misinterpreted as child abuse.^3,4
• Language barriers can lead to difficulties in obtaining a complete history and misinterpretation of child maltreatment.⁴

Guidelines to Providing Unbiased Care

• Continuous professional development about major forms of child maltreatment along with self-reflection of racial, ethnic, and cultural biases is necessary.¹
• Standardized forms of diagnostic tools can be used to promote objectivity in reporting child abuse, such as screening tools and checklists.¹
• Use of diverse multidisciplinary teams to reflect on biases can be a powerful tool in promoting unbiased care.¹
• Consider your personal biases during mandated child abuse reporting.¹
• Care should be taken to recognize if child abuse reporting is being influenced by the family's psychosocial history and reports should be based on new suspicions of abuse or neglect, not solely based on past histories.