Relative and Absolute Racial Disproportionality

Absolute RDI: The Absolute Racial Disproportionality Index is the percentage of a racial or ethnic group for an indicator divided by the percentage of that total group in the baseline population. This measure shows how different the percentage of each race or ethnicity is for each indicator as compared to the overall population. For example, if a group makes up 25% of the baseline population but 50% of investigations, the RDI would be 50/25=2. This indicates that this group is twice as likely to be investigated as would be expected based on how often they occur in the population. This is an example of an over-represented group. By contrast, if a group makes up 25% of the population but only 5% of investigations, their absolute RDI would be 5/25=0.2. This means that the group is much less likely to be investigated than would be expected based on the baseline population. This is an example of underrepresentation.

Relative RDI: The Relative Racial Disproportionality Index is the percentage of a group present for an indicator, divided by the percentage of that group at a previous indicator. The relative RDI shows how much more disproportionality is added or reduced at each indicator. For example, if a group made up 25% of the population, 50% of investigations, and 75% of protective custodies, the relative RDI for protective custodies would be 75/50 = 1.5. However, the absolute RDI for this example would be 75/25 = 3. The difference between these numbers tells us that there is a racial or ethnic inequity present in children who are placed in protective custody compared to the population (absolute RDI). In addition, some of that inequality was present at the previous step, but additional inequality was added when deciding which children to send to protective custody (relative RDI).

Indicators

Indicators refer to a series of critical steps in the child welfare system. These steps are analyzed in the B.H. Consent Decree Report to better understand inequities in the Illinois child welfare system.

For our line charts, we've placed indicators into the following Indicator Groups, which coincide with different phases of a child's movement through the chld welfare system.

The Initial Involvement group includes:

• Investigations: Reports of abuse or neglect are collected by the DCFS hotline, and a subset of these reports are selected for investigation. As part of an investigation, DCFS will assess whether a child is in danger. If DCFS judges that the child is unsafe, they will create a safety plan to lessen those dangers.
• Protective Custody: DCFS may take custody of a child to keep them safe during an investigation. This might occur because the involved family did not agree with the safety plan proposed by a social worker, or because the social worker feels that the child or children are in immediate danger.
• Negelct/Abuse Indicated: When an investigation concludes that a child was abused or neglected, this is also referred as a finding of indicated maltreatment. (If the investigation concludes otherwise, the investigation is labeled "not indicated.")
• Intact Family Services: After an indicated investigation, some families remain together while receiving intact family services that help address the reasons why an investigation was indicated. These services may include healthcare, food assistance, and other kinds of support.

The In Care group includes:

• Placed in Care: After an indicated investigation, some children are placed in substitute care. Substitute care can include traditional foster care, a placement with family members, or a group home.
• Placement Instability: Children experiencing placement instability have three or more different placements during their first year in care.
• Remain in Care: The Illinois child welfare system tries to place children in a permanent home as quickly as possible. However, some children remain in care for a long period of time.

The Exit group includes:

• Reunification: Children return to their parents
• Adoption: Children are cared for by adoptive parents. Adoptive parents have the same legal rights as biological parents, and the rights of biological parents are terminated when a child is adopted.
• Guardianship: Children are cared for by guardians, who are granted permanent custody. However, the rights of biological parents do not need to be terminated.