“No family or child should be subjected to racism or injustice by any sector involved in children's social care,” said Janet Daby, children's and families minister at the Racial Justice Family Network (RJFN) launch event in November. She added: “We must all raise our voices against injustice that hinders far too many, creates sadness and misery, and leads to disadvantage and deprivation.”
This is what the RJFN is: a collaborative network of social workers, legal professionals, judges, academics, and individuals with lived experience, building collective understanding, accountability, and action.
Racism exists within the family justice system – and its impact is significant. Anti-racist practice means actively confronting racial injustice – being part of the solution, not a bystander to the problem.
Impact of ethnic disparity
The impact of ethnic disparity on children and families involved in child protection proceedings has been poorly understood, inconsistently addressed, and largely undocumented. Brophy et al (2003) brought attention to these issues, exposing a systemic lack of cultural competence among professionals, with common practices within families’ cultures misinterpreted as risk factors, and limited use of interpreters and culturally informed expert evidence.
Although contemporary data remains limited, research by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory highlights enduring disparities. Black and Asian children in care proceedings in England tend to be older when entering care proceedings, experience longer court proceedings, have the highest proportion of secure accommodation or deprivation of liberty orders – while also being less likely to have an adoption or placement order made, and more likely to leave proceedings with no order at all. Children from Gypsy or Irish Traveller backgrounds are overrepresented in both public and private law proceedings, but further research is needed to better understand the drivers of ethnic disproportionality for specific groups.
Analysis by Warner et al (2024) of Welsh administrative data provides compelling evidence that ethnic disparities in entry into care persist even after accounting for parental risk factors and levels of deprivation – suggesting that bias may play a more significant role in decision-making than previously recognised. The study calls on policymakers and practitioners to ensure that social care provision is both non-discriminatory and culturally sensitive, by embedding effective approaches to eradicate racist and discriminatory practices.
These concerns have been echoed in the Independent Review of Children's Social Care and by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel; yet there remains a widespread reluctance to speak openly about racism – how it manifests, and how it can be meaningfully challenged at the individual, organisational, institutional, and systemic level.
RJFN, hosted by CoramBAAF, is committed to promoting inclusive justice through an anti-racist lens. We work together to identify and challenge the policies, practices, and behaviours that perpetuate discrimination – where collective action is likely to achieve more.
RJFN endorses the Family Court Anti-Racist Practice Statement, developed by the Family Justice Quality Circle and endorsed by the Family Justice Young People's Board as well as several Local Family Justice Boards (LFJB). We call on every LFJB to adopt their own version of the statement – tailored to their local needs and challenges – and to make ethnic disparity a standing agenda item, as part of a broader commitment to inclusive justice.
We host quarterly meetings and events to identify opportunities for progress and to create a space for honest dialogue, shared learning, and accountability.
We deliver anti-racist training and advocate for it to be mandatory, periodically evaluated for impact, and transparently reported, particularly with regard to judicial training.
RJFN advocates for improved data collection, analysis and transparency on ethnicity and outcomes, and contributes to research that deepens understanding and drives change.
We spotlight good practice and call for existing tools, frameworks and guidance to be reviewed through an inclusive justice lens, grounded in anti-racist principles.
The network champions professional curiosity in identifying and challenging racial stereotypes and assumptions, enabling deeper understanding of cultural context, families’ lived realities, and how intersecting aspects of identity shape their experiences and needs.
We collect and reflect on experiences of racism shared by our members and wider community. These insights shape our priorities and ensure the voices of racially minoritised families and professionals remain central to our work of dismantling racial disparity.
USEFUL RESOURCES
Family Justice Young People's Board, Cafcass www.cafcass.gov.uk
Quality Circle, Sussex Family Justice Board www.sussexfamilyjusticeboard.org.uk
Family Court Anti-Poverty Practice Statement, Family Justice Quality Circle www.sussexfamilyjusticeboard.org.uk
