Data show disparity in race among kids

In Ohio, 42.8 percent of children in foster care are black.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The gap starts with the first reports of suspected child abuse and neglect.
Throughout America's child welfare system, cases are more likely to be reported and investigated for black children than white. Black children are more likely to be taken from their homes, stay in protective custody longer and never return to their parents, studies and social workers say.
A nine-year-old federal law encouraging adoption has reduced the number of black children lingering in the foster care system by putting them in permanent homes. But states struggle with reducing inequalities when sending children into foster care.
Nationally, blacks make up 15 percent of the child population but 27 percent of children entering foster care, according to the Congressional Research Service, based on 2003 data. The Child Welfare League of America that year found 15 states where the raw number of black foster children exceeded whites.
Local statistics
Here are April 6 figures for the Mahoning Valley, according to data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, 2000 U.S. Census and AP Research:
In Mahoning County, there are 14,138 black children, and 146 of them are in foster care; 63.2 percent of the county's foster children are black.
In Trumbull County, where there are 6,007 black children, 59 of them are in foster care. Of the county's foster children, 28.4 are black.
In Columbiana County, 8 percent of the foster children are black. There are 419 black children in the county, and nine of them are in foster care.
Ohio has 435,859 black children, and 7,761 are in foster care. Of all children in Ohio who are in foster care, 42.8 percent are black.