Episode 272: Striving for Racial Equity in the Child Welfare System (w/ Shanelle Dupree)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The child welfare system can be confusing and complex. Families are often expected to navigate administrative systems, the criminal justice system, the legal system, and the social system—all at the same time and with no prior instruction.
Our guest today knows the child welfare system inside and out—and she’s passionate about helping families navigate it with hope and clarity. She also understands that its challenges don’t impact everyone equally. Her work focuses on uncovering why families of color often face worse outcomes and unpacking the systemic issues behind those disparities.
Shanelle Dupree is a former child welfare administrator who has practiced child welfare law. She is currently the executive director of Racial Equity Collaborative, a nonprofit focused on advancing racial equity for families and communities through collaborative action.
In this episode, Shanelle shares the correlation between child welfare outcomes and race, why it’s crucial for parents to have the uncomfortable conversations about race with their foster or adoptive children, how to advocate for your child when they encounter racial discrimination, and much more.
Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/shanelle-dupree-272/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We want to keep kids safely connected with people that they love, people that they know, people that love them, as many people as possible, because I believe that the community is the answer. |
| 0:21.3 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. |
| 0:23.5 | Welcome to the Forgotten podcast where we are highlighting the stories of the people of foster care. |
| 0:29.6 | We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your journey and help you support the foster |
| 0:34.9 | care community where you live. |
| 0:36.8 | This podcast is a resource of the Forgotten Initiative. |
| 0:40.7 | Learn more about our work across America and how you can get involved by visiting |
| 0:45.4 | the forgotteninitiative.org. |
| 0:47.8 | And please consider joining with us on mission with a gift of any amount. |
| 0:53.5 | You can do this by texting the word forgotten to |
| 0:56.6 | 44321. Okay, it's time. Let's do this. |
| 1:06.6 | Chanel Dupree is a strategic connector with deep Midwestern roots. |
| 1:14.4 | She practiced child welfare law, is a former child welfare administrator, and now is an |
| 1:20.9 | executive director of a social service nonprofit focused on racial equity in all helping systems. She also created a curriculum called |
| 1:30.5 | Skin Deep for those involved in child welfare to learn the history of families in America by race |
| 1:36.9 | and embrace into action the role we play in restoration. Chanel is wife to a pastor and elected official. She's a Bible study |
| 1:46.2 | teacher, author, and mama of four active teenagers. Chanel, welcome to the show. Thank you, Jamie. |
| 1:53.8 | It's such a pleasure to be here. Well, I am really interested in learning about how you got into |
| 1:59.6 | child welfare in the first place, because you've had |
| 2:01.7 | quite a career in child welfare. So just talk to us about even like your journey into your first |
| 2:09.5 | career in child welfare law. For sure. I really, I feel like God put it in my heart at a very young |
| 2:17.2 | age that I was going to be an attorney. |
... |
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