Alan J Dettlaff
Biographic Data
| ID | 186165 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alan J Dettlaff |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alan J |
| FAMILY NAME | Dettlaff |
| SIGNATURE | DETTLAFF A J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Illinois Chicago |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4042-7282 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 314 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Accountability or complicity? Social work’s dual commitments and crisis of accountability in the US
The social work profession in the US espouses commitments to equity and justice while also being complicit in systems of racial and social oppression, revealing a persistent accountability crisis within the profession. This article traces the historical and contemporary dimensions of that crisis, asking: To whom is social work accountable? Through archival research and analysis of contemporary case studies, we trace how professional bodies have d…
Rebuttal from Dr. Dettlaff
In “Counterpoint: Child Welfare System: Evolution/Revolution,” Dr. Jessica Pryce responded to my article, “Point: Abolition of the Child Welfare System: An Invitation,” by offering an alternative to abolition, proposing a blend of reformative and transformative reforms. In this response, I highlight two foundational differences in our views that, I believe, distinguish our approaches to the child welfare system: First, our understanding of the sy…
Point
This invited paper presents a call to abolish the child welfare system and invites readers to join this urgent and growing movement. The movement to abolish the child welfare system is built upon the recognition that forcible family separations are state-sanctioned violence and the only solution to ending this violence is to end the policies and structures that enable it. As has been true in abolitionist movements of the past, today’s abolitionis…
Can Social Work Be Abolitionist
Why we must end mandatory reporting laws
Recent policy shifts in the US targeting families with transgender and gender-nonconforming children have highlighted how mandatory reporting laws can be weaponized by the state to harm those it deems undesirable. Yet, the harms that result from mandatory reporting laws, particularly to racialized children and families, have been documented for decades. Since their origins, mandatory reporting laws have been deemed an ineffective policy solution …
Family Policing and the Carceral State
Policing Is Reproductive Oppression
Since the era of chattel slavery, the state has used institutionalized abuse and violence as a tool for reproductive control. Today, public institutions and social services have been established by the state to police and surveil the behavior of poor communities and parents to maintain the reproductive violence and oppression that began centuries ago. This paper uses a reproductive justice framework to explore how the history of criminalizing pre…
Administrative Burdens in Child Welfare Systems
Public policy often imposes administrative burdens that constrain people’s ability to access benefits and affirmatively exercise fundamental rights. In this article, we extend the administrative burden framework to argue that the state also 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 bene…
Reflections on the Ethical Possibilities and Limitations of Abolitionist Praxis in Social Work
Since 2020, blatant forms of state violence within the United States have reignited attention in the field of social work, where numerous calls have been made to realign and reconsider our standing ethical values and principles. Individually, social workers are beginning to reckon with the field's role within the carceral ecosystem and reimagining practice outside the confines of the carceral state. Institutionally, however, social work's profess…
Interrogating the carceral state
Some Comments on the Notion of Social Work as a Human Service Cartel
It is not a broken system, it is a system that needs to be broken
The child welfare system disproportionately harms Black children and families through systemic over-surveillance, over-involvement, and the resulting adverse outcomes associated with foster care. Ending this harm will only be achieved when the forcible surveillance and separation of children from their parents is no longer viewed as an acceptable form of intervention. This paper describes the upEND movement, a collaborative movement aimed at abol…
Voices from the Frontlines
Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System
Children of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system, and Black children have been most significantly impacted by this racial disproportionality. Racial disproportionality in child welfare exists because of influences that are both external to child welfare systems and part of the child welfare system. We summarize the causes of racial disproportionality, arguing that internal and external causes of disproportional involvement origin…
Advancing the Public Impact of Social Work Scholarship
This article offers the perspectives of deans and directors of schools and programs of social work on public impact scholarship. Our aim is to identify opportunities for social work to make greater public impact as a discipline. We extend the definition of public impact scholarship beyond translation and dissemination to include research questions and methods. We review institutional challenges to public impact scholarship—including university cu…
The impossible imperative
The impossible imperative: navigating the competing principles of child protection." Journal of Public Child Welfare, 13(1), pp. 125–126
Challenges to Family Unity and Opportunities for Promoting Child Welfare in an Increasingly Punitive Immigration Landscape
This paper describes specific challenges to family unity and child welfare among children in immigrant families resulting from immigration enforcement. Surges in immigration activity over the past decade have resulted in family economic hardship, psychological trauma to children, and difficulty accessing social services. Children whose parents are detained/deported are at risk of unnecessarily entering the child welfare system, and encounter sign…
Charting Directions for Research on Immigrant Children Affected by Undocumented Status
Three groups of children from Mexico and Central America are vulnerable to effects of U.S. immigration policies: (1) foreign-born children who entered the United States with undocumented immigrant parents; (2) unaccompanied children who entered the United States alone; and (3) U.S.-born citizen-children of undocumented immigrant parents. Despite the recent demographic growth of these youth, scholarship on their strengths and challenges is under-t…
Disparities in Reported and Substantiated Infant Maltreatment by Maternal Hispanic Origin and Nativity
Nativity and immigration status among Latino families involved in the child welfare system
Parental nativity and the decision to substantiate
Finding Missing Families
When families move to avoid a child protection investigation or otherwise cannot be located, the children in those families remain at continued risk of maltreatment and the potentially severe consequences. Following the death of a 9-year-old boy in Texas, whose family moved repeatedly to avoid investigation, child welfare administrators collaborated with United Way and a community-based private investigator to develop and implement an innovative …
Immigrant Children and Child Welfare in the United States
Disentangling substantiation
Child maltreatment dynamics among immigrant and U.S. born Latino children
Disentangling substantiation
It is not a broken system, it is a system that needs to be broken
The child welfare system disproportionately harms Black children and families through systemic over-surveillance, over-involvement, and the resulting adverse outcomes associated with foster care. Ending this harm will only be achieved when the forcible surveillance and separation of children from their parents is no longer viewed as an acceptable form of intervention. This paper describes the upEND movement, a collaborative movement aimed at abol…
Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System
Children of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system, and Black children have been most significantly impacted by this racial disproportionality. Racial disproportionality in child welfare exists because of influences that are both external to child welfare systems and part of the child welfare system. We summarize the causes of racial disproportionality, arguing that internal and external causes of disproportional involvement origin…
Latino children of immigrants in the child welfare system
Voices from the Frontlines
Factors Contributing to Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System
A critical shortcoming in the existing body of research addressing racial disproportionality in the child welfare system is the lack of inclusion of external stakeholders in attempts to understand and address this issue.This article reports the results ofa study designed to develop a deeper understanding of disproportionality from the views of the legal community, a critical stakeholder in child welfare. Using a qualitative approach, with focus g…
Child maltreatment dynamics among immigrant and U.S. born Latino children
Administrative Burdens in Child Welfare Systems
Public policy often imposes administrative burdens that constrain people’s ability to access benefits and affirmatively exercise fundamental rights. In this article, we extend the administrative burden framework to argue that the state also 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 bene…
Mental health need and service use among Latino children of immigrants in the child welfare system
More Than Parents in Prison
Because of the dramatic rise in incarceration rates during the past two decades, children of incarcerated parents have been a topic of increasing interest. Children who have parents in jail or prison, however, are only a subgroup of the children child protective services agencies encounter who have parents who are involved with the criminal justice system. According to data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, the primary …
Reflections on the Ethical Possibilities and Limitations of Abolitionist Praxis in Social Work
Since 2020, blatant forms of state violence within the United States have reignited attention in the field of social work, where numerous calls have been made to realign and reconsider our standing ethical values and principles. Individually, social workers are beginning to reckon with the field's role within the carceral ecosystem and reimagining practice outside the confines of the carceral state. Institutionally, however, social work's profess…
African American Families and the Role of Physical Discipline
The use of physical discipline within African American families is examined from a historical perspective within the context of institutionalized racism and racial disproportionality in the child welfare system. African American parenting strengths are explored, demonstrating that the use of physical discipline can be purposeful, controlled, and appropriate, utilized to protect African American children and instruct them how to behave and survive…
Nativity and immigration status among Latino families involved in the child welfare system
Hurdling the Artificial Fence Between Child Welfare and the Community
As with many national and state social service systems, child welfare agencies have traditionally functioned in isolation. A multitude of federal and state laws and policies direct the functions and practices of child welfare systems, setting up an artificial fence around the agency that has created a culture lacking in interprofessional collaborations. However, recent reform efforts have emphasized the importance of engaging the community in dis…
Interrogating the carceral state
Charting Directions for Research on Immigrant Children Affected by Undocumented Status
Three groups of children from Mexico and Central America are vulnerable to effects of U.S. immigration policies: (1) foreign-born children who entered the United States with undocumented immigrant parents; (2) unaccompanied children who entered the United States alone; and (3) U.S.-born citizen-children of undocumented immigrant parents. Despite the recent demographic growth of these youth, scholarship on their strengths and challenges is under-t…
Parental nativity and the decision to substantiate
An exploratory study of the range of implications of families' criminal justice system involvement in child welfare cases
Policing Is Reproductive Oppression
Since the era of chattel slavery, the state has used institutionalized abuse and violence as a tool for reproductive control. Today, public institutions and social services have been established by the state to police and surveil the behavior of poor communities and parents to maintain the reproductive violence and oppression that began centuries ago. This paper uses a reproductive justice framework to explore how the history of criminalizing pre…
Family Policing and the Carceral State
The impossible imperative
The impossible imperative: navigating the competing principles of child protection." Journal of Public Child Welfare, 13(1), pp. 125–126
Immigrant Latino Children and Families in Child Welfare
Culturally competent practice with immigrant Latino children and families requires a thorough understanding of the impact that migration and acculturation has had on each family and how these experiences have contributed to their involvement in the child welfare system. The growth of the Latino immigrant population in the United States requires that child welfare agencies examine and adapt their practices to ensure effective response to the speci…
Why we must end mandatory reporting laws
Recent policy shifts in the US targeting families with transgender and gender-nonconforming children have highlighted how mandatory reporting laws can be weaponized by the state to harm those it deems undesirable. Yet, the harms that result from mandatory reporting laws, particularly to racialized children and families, have been documented for decades. Since their origins, mandatory reporting laws have been deemed an ineffective policy solution …
Some Comments on the Notion of Social Work as a Human Service Cartel
Immigrant Children and Child Welfare in the United States
Enhancing Field Instruction in Child Welfare
Field placements in child welfare are generally recognized as a recruitment tool for professional social workers. However, little attention has been given to improving these placements in an effort to enhance recruitment. This study evaluates a comprehensive professional development curriculum for child welfare practitioners that is designed to provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide quality field instruction in a …
Immigrant Latino Children and Families in Child Welfare
Culturally competent practice with immigrant Latino children and families requires a thorough understanding of the impact that migration and acculturation has had on each family and how these experiences have contributed to their involvement in the child welfare system. The growth of the Latino immigrant population in the United States requires that child welfare agencies examine and adapt their practices to ensure effective response to the speci…
More Than Parents in Prison
Because of the dramatic rise in incarceration rates during the past two decades, children of incarcerated parents have been a topic of increasing interest. Children who have parents in jail or prison, however, are only a subgroup of the children child protective services agencies encounter who have parents who are involved with the criminal justice system. According to data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, the primary …
Latino children of immigrants in the child welfare system
Hurdling the Artificial Fence Between Child Welfare and the Community
As with many national and state social service systems, child welfare agencies have traditionally functioned in isolation. A multitude of federal and state laws and policies direct the functions and practices of child welfare systems, setting up an artificial fence around the agency that has created a culture lacking in interprofessional collaborations. However, recent reform efforts have emphasized the importance of engaging the community in dis…
Child Welfare Practice with Immigrant Children and Families
This issue of the Journal of Public Child Welfare focuses on the rapidly growing population of children of immigrants in the United States and the implications to child welfare practice when immigr
An exploratory study of the range of implications of families' criminal justice system involvement in child welfare cases
Mental health need and service use among Latino children of immigrants in the child welfare system
Factors Contributing to Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System
A critical shortcoming in the existing body of research addressing racial disproportionality in the child welfare system is the lack of inclusion of external stakeholders in attempts to understand and address this issue.This article reports the results ofa study designed to develop a deeper understanding of disproportionality from the views of the legal community, a critical stakeholder in child welfare. Using a qualitative approach, with focus g…
Immigrant Children and Child Welfare in the United States
Disentangling substantiation
Child maltreatment dynamics among immigrant and U.S. born Latino children
African American Families and the Role of Physical Discipline
The use of physical discipline within African American families is examined from a historical perspective within the context of institutionalized racism and racial disproportionality in the child welfare system. African American parenting strengths are explored, demonstrating that the use of physical discipline can be purposeful, controlled, and appropriate, utilized to protect African American children and instruct them how to behave and survive…
Parental nativity and the decision to substantiate
Finding Missing Families
When families move to avoid a child protection investigation or otherwise cannot be located, the children in those families remain at continued risk of maltreatment and the potentially severe consequences. Following the death of a 9-year-old boy in Texas, whose family moved repeatedly to avoid investigation, child welfare administrators collaborated with United Way and a community-based private investigator to develop and implement an innovative …
Disparities in Reported and Substantiated Infant Maltreatment by Maternal Hispanic Origin and Nativity
Nativity and immigration status among Latino families involved in the child welfare system
Charting Directions for Research on Immigrant Children Affected by Undocumented Status
Three groups of children from Mexico and Central America are vulnerable to effects of U.S. immigration policies: (1) foreign-born children who entered the United States with undocumented immigrant parents; (2) unaccompanied children who entered the United States alone; and (3) U.S.-born citizen-children of undocumented immigrant parents. Despite the recent demographic growth of these youth, scholarship on their strengths and challenges is under-t…
The impossible imperative
The impossible imperative: navigating the competing principles of child protection." Journal of Public Child Welfare, 13(1), pp. 125–126
Challenges to Family Unity and Opportunities for Promoting Child Welfare in an Increasingly Punitive Immigration Landscape
This paper describes specific challenges to family unity and child welfare among children in immigrant families resulting from immigration enforcement. Surges in immigration activity over the past decade have resulted in family economic hardship, psychological trauma to children, and difficulty accessing social services. Children whose parents are detained/deported are at risk of unnecessarily entering the child welfare system, and encounter sign…
Advancing the Public Impact of Social Work Scholarship
This article offers the perspectives of deans and directors of schools and programs of social work on public impact scholarship. Our aim is to identify opportunities for social work to make greater public impact as a discipline. We extend the definition of public impact scholarship beyond translation and dissemination to include research questions and methods. We review institutional challenges to public impact scholarship—including university cu…
It is not a broken system, it is a system that needs to be broken
The child welfare system disproportionately harms Black children and families through systemic over-surveillance, over-involvement, and the resulting adverse outcomes associated with foster care. Ending this harm will only be achieved when the forcible surveillance and separation of children from their parents is no longer viewed as an acceptable form of intervention. This paper describes the upEND movement, a collaborative movement aimed at abol…
Voices from the Frontlines
Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System
Children of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system, and Black children have been most significantly impacted by this racial disproportionality. Racial disproportionality in child welfare exists because of influences that are both external to child welfare systems and part of the child welfare system. We summarize the causes of racial disproportionality, arguing that internal and external causes of disproportional involvement origin…
Some Comments on the Notion of Social Work as a Human Service Cartel
Political science (30 works) · Welfare (24 works) · Psychology (22 works) · Sociology (22 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (21 works) · Law (20 works) · Law (17 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (15 works) · Medicine (14 works) · Migration, Health and Trauma (14 works)