CORRECTION: The story previously said Mike Bryant was the CEO (chief executive officer) of Embrace Families. He's actually the COO (chief operating officer). This has been corrected.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A recent study shows disparities between how Black children are treated in the foster care system in comparison to other children, and a local organization is taking steps to make sure children are treated equal.

After racial unrest throughout 2020, nationwide child welfare organization Bethany Christian Services studied the effects racism and racial bias on decisions made within the foster care system. That report found Black children are taken into foster care at a disproportionately high rate, and stay in the system longer before they’re adopted or reunited with their parents.

Mike Bryant is the COO of Embrace Families, the state-designated lead agency for child welfare in Central Florida.

“We had the same reckoning as the rest of the country in the last year,” said Bryant, the chief operating officer of Embrace Families, the state-designated lead agency for child welfare in Central Florida.

“We have to know where we came from and why these things happen,” Bryant said after wrapping up talks with the Florida Coalition for Children about how to address the problem.

“That’s why we focus on the education, like implicit bias, and making sure our staff understand that so that when they’re out in the field, they’re looking at a situation and not necessarily conflating socioeconomic issues with abuse and neglect,” he said.

Providing more resources for parents whose children were taken away will help reunite many families, Bryant said.  

“Maybe they’re not completely safe, but they would be if this service existed,” Bryant said. “Unfortunately, in the communities of color that we’re talking about, that service is across town.”

Fred and Katrina Williams began caring for two boys, Hunter and Phoenix, about nine years ago.

“We’ve seen them flourish over the years since they were small boys,” Fred Williams said.

The courts determined Hunter and Phoenix couldn’t go back to their original family.

But Katrina Williams said many of the children she and her husband have cared for have been able to go back to their original parents. That’s always their goal if the original parent is willing to provide a better home, but just needs help.

“I think this is a situation where the mother needs resources from the community, and she needs help,” Katrina Williams said.

The Williams adopted Hunter and Phoenix four years ago and are continuing to guide them as they pursue their creative and academic interests.

“We just want to prepare them for the life that they’re going to have, and the best possible life after they are grown so they can be independent,” Fred Williams said.

The Williams said they believe more parents will be able to do the same for their own children, with more community resources available.