Summarising the main causes of entry of ethnic minorities into Western child protection systems – what’s cultural and what isn’t? Causes of over-representation in the child protection system:

Causes of over-representation in the child protection system: what the literature says Over-representation occurs when the proportion of children from a cultural group in the child protection system is significantly higher than their proportion in the general population (Johnson et al., 2007). It is also known in the literature as ‘racial disparity’ and ‘racial disproportionality’ (Hacket and Cahn, 2004). Based on the review of the literature, there are three main reasons why ethnic minorities become over-represented in the child protection system:

1 Culture is the cause of maltreatment, which then introduces them into the child protection system.