Administrative Burdens in Child Welfare Systems

This paper was written by Frank Edwards, Kelley Fong, Victoria Copeland, Mical Raz, and Alan Dettlaff.

In this article, the authors argue that the state places burdens on people who have involuntary contact with coercive state institutions, such as the child welfare system. Just as administrative burdens lock “undeserving,” marginalized populations out of benefits, administrative burdens also lock such populations into coercive intrusion. Drawing on interview data with system-involved mothers and child welfare caseworkers, the article shows how parents subject to oversight by child protection authorities must overcome substantial learning, compliance, and psychological costs or risk losing a fundamental right: the right to parent their children. The burdens of service provision should be loaded onto governments rather than already strained and resource-deprived families.