PROFESSOR MARTIN PUBLISHES ARTICLE IN YALE LAW & POLICY REVIEW
January 2024 — Professor Andrea J. Martin recently published an article in the Yale Law & Policy Review titled “Beyond Brackeen: Active Efforts Toward Antiracist Child Welfare Policy.”
The article describes how legal protections afforded to families of children in the foster care system have been significantly eroded due to structural racism. The latest attempt to dismantle child welfare protections for a historically marginalized group was a prolonged attack on the Indian Child Welfare Act. Fortunately, in Haaland v. Brackeen, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law’s important protections for American Indian children, families, and tribes, including the requirement that active efforts be made to keep families together before placing children in foster care.
Federal child welfare legislation for all children once provided similar safeguards, but those protections were eroded based on a racist ideology that Black and Brown children in foster care would fare better if adopted by White families. As a result, families of color, who are disproportionately represented in the foster care system, do not receive the support needed to maintain or regain custody of their children and preserve their families.
To combat this problem, “Beyond Brackeen” urges Congress to bolster the level of remedial services offered to all families, from “reasonable efforts” to “active efforts,” to prevent the unnecessary removal of children from their homes and assist in family reunification. This heightened standard would reestablish consistency in federal child welfare legislation, better serve families in foster care, and improve outcomes for all children.
Professor Andrea J. Martin is an assistant professor of law at Penn State Dickinson Law and recipient of the Penn State Dickinson Law Phillip M. Scott Teaching Excellence Award. Her research draws on constitutional and legal history to explore and analyze current social justice issues including American Indian sovereignty rights, antiracism in education, and voter suppression. Prior to joining Dickinson Law, Martin spent twelve years as a strategic legal advisor, managing business and regulatory legal affairs at a multi-billion-dollar company. Professor Martin also served as a Special Assistant Attorney General in the Appellate Division of the Rhode Island Department of Attorney of General. Martin is involved in diversity and inclusion efforts and served on the Governor’s Task Force on Diversity, the Governor’s Commission on Prejudice and Bias and the Thurgood Marshall Lawyer’s Society. She has also taught legal writing in the CLEO (Council on Legal Education Opportunity) program, previously hosted by Penn State Dickinson Law, to increase the number of lawyers from diverse backgrounds.