DPA Research & Policy Seminar Series – David Schwegman (American University)
September 17, 2021
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
September 17: David Schwegman (American University)
https://uic.zoom.us/j/85137655186?pwd=b2ZNYlltZHZFZHM1K0hPREk0SFlFZz09
Meeting ID: 851 3765 5186
Passcode: QqZJ1HK6
Title: Public Sector Discrimination in the United States: the Case of Child Welfare Providers
Abstract:
There has been considerable recent debate regarding proposed policies that would allow child welfare providers, notably faith-based organizations (FBOs), to refuse to provide services to individuals based on deeply held religious beliefs. The US Supreme Court recently ruled in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021) that FBOs, specifically religiously affiliated foster care agencies, do not, under certain circumstances, need to provide services to individuals, notably same-sex couples (or members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer community).
To date, however, we know very little about the level of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the public sector. In this paper, we examine public sector discrimination in one particular service domain: child welfare services. Specifically, we examine if foster care agencies discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation to ask whether foster care agencies, the public and nonprofit firms that facilitate foster care placements, respond similarly to inquiries sent by seemingly real same-sex and heterosexual couples who inquire about becoming foster parents. Our results suggest that, while the average foster care agency responds at somewhat similar rates to gay male couples, gay female couples, and heterosexual couples, responses sent to gay males are of lower quality. Gay males receive much shorter responses that take longer to receive. Responses to gay male couples are also less likely to include essential information about the process of becoming a foster parent, such as details about informational sessions or being given an application. We do not find any evidence of differential treatment towards same-sex female couples.
We then examine heterogeneity by organizational attributes. In particular, we examine if faith-based foster care agencies are more or less likely to respond than public agencies or secular non-profit agencies. We find that religious agencies are much less likely to respond to same-sex male couples. However, conditional on responding, religiously affiliated foster care agencies treat same-sex male and female couples similarly compared to public and secular non-profits
Date posted
Sep 2, 2021
Date updated
Sep 3, 2021