RD 8 through 13: Disparity Ratio (DR)

NOTE: The operational definition for each disproportionality report is the same except for how the decision point is defined. 

Operational Definition of Measure: Rate at which each race group is represented in the decision point compared to White children.  Each race group’s Disproportionality Index score is divided by the Disproportionality Index score for White.

•      Race Groups – Children can be a single race or multi-race, and can be identified as ethnicities (e.g. Hispanic) apart from race.  Please check with your agency for how children were categorized into race groups for reporting purposes in this report.  Any categorization is a compromise. It is a common practice to count Hispanic as a race group even though it is an ethnicity.  Often the logic is:

1.  All children with Hispanic ethnicity are classified in a race field as “Hispanic.” 

2.  Of the remaining children (non-Hispanic), children with more than one race identified are classified as “Two or more races”. 

3.  All other children with only one race identified are placed in their race category.

•      Disproportionality Index Score - Ratio of the percent of a specific race group at the selected decision point to the percent of the same race group of a base population. 

•      Base Population – Each state will determine what they want to use as a base population to compute the Disproportionality Index score.  It may be the racial composition of general child population, child poverty population, or another prior decision point population (e.g. accepted reports).

•      Child populations (Decision Points #1 and #2) - Each state has selected what child population data to display.  The most commonly used is the child population reported in the US Census.  Some states may also have elected to use child poverty population data if available. 

•      Decision point – Cohorts of children are reported by decision points such as CPS report, accepted report, child victim, entered foster care, in foster care, exited foster care.  A decision point is a child status in the child welfare system your agency state has decided to report data.  Please note how the counts are made by Decision Point.

Unit of Analysis: A child

Calculation / Count: Disparity Ratio is the ratio of the Disproportionality Index of each race at a decision point to the Disproportionality Index score of White children.

Numerator:  Disproportionality Index score for a child race group at the selected decision point

Divided By

Denominator: Disproportionality Index score for White children at the selected decision point

Example:  In the example below the Disparity Ratio (DR) for black children is 2.8.  This is calculated as 2.2 (Disproportionality Index score for black children) divided by .8 (the Disproportionality Index score for white children).  Simply stated in this example, black children entered Foster Care at a rate that is 2.8 times higher than white children. A Disparity Ratio (DR) value of 1 means a race group is represented the same as white children at that decision point. 

ROM Training Videos are available with more detailed descriptions of the Racial Disparity reports. The videos can be accessed in the Using ROM section of the Help dropdown menu.

Example Cohort Graphic: Report for September 2014 will be based on all child reports in the prior 12 month period except for Disparity: In Foster Care which is based on all children in care in September 2014.

Data Table:

•      Count of children

•      Disparity Ratio

•      Percent of the total

Grouped detail: Other categories within the observation period are also presented and grouped as follows:

•      Total Children with Identified Race

o  American Indian or Alaska Native

o  Asian

o  Black or African American

o  Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

o  White

o  Hispanic

o  Multi-race

•      Children Unable to Determine race

NOTE:  The report view Effective Date should be a minimum of 12 months after the date of the earliest available data, except for Disparity: In Foster Care.

Views:

Trend

Provides a count by month for the time period selected.

Unit

Provides a count by unit for the time period selected.

Month Reported In: Data vaires based on each decision point metric as follows:

•      Child Reports: report received date

•      Accepted Reports: report accepted date

•      Child Victims: Report received date

•      Entered Foster Care: removal start date

•      In Foster Care: involved in a removal (foster care) episode on the last day of the report period

•      Exited Foster Care: discharge date

Management Hierarchy Assignments: Assignment is made using the management hierarchy level which varies by decision point as follows:

•      Child Population (Decision Point 1) and Child Poverty Population (Decision Point 2) are the counts of children for the calendar year of the report period selected.

•      All Child Reports (Decision Point 3) use the Report Received Date.

•      Accepted Referrals (Decision Point 4) use the Report Received Date.

•      Child Victim (Decision Point 5) counts use the Investigation Completed Date

•      Entered Foster Care (Decision Point 6), In Foster Care (Decision Point 7), and Exited Foster Care (Decision Point 8) use the earlier of discharge or end of the month.