As stated, there are often informal and formal barriers to access services, despite eligibility for services. We can see this in this example relating to marginalized communities with minimal access to transportation. For example, there is an afterschool program that many students at a local high school are eligible for due to a combination of low socioeconomic status and low test scores. However, many of the students cannot attend, because despite meeting eligibility requirements, there is not adequate transportation for the children to return home after the program is over each day. Children that could take the bus from school to home miss the bus to attend the after school program, but then that leaves them without access to transportation. What are some other ways we can see this in the communities we serve? How can we engage in ethical policy practice to change these outcomes?
In current US society we have seen many times where the rule of law does not apply consistently to all populations, marginalized groups, or minorities. This inconsistency can be seen in situations where the laws are the same for all, but applied differently due to issues of systemic oppression, discrimination, or belief system. For example, let’s say there is a law pertaining to loitering in a particular neighborhood and law enforcement receives a call about a “suspicious person” – however, depending on the race of the officers responding to a suspicious person, the race of the “suspicious person”, and the thought process that played into whoever call to report the “suspicious person” that would deem them “suspicious”…the outcome of the situation could be different, because these issues are not law-based, but instead are issues related to systemic racism and implicit bias. Therefore, while there is a law against loitering, the response to each individual may be applied differently. How can we, then, ensure that there are laws and policies that are both created to protect/include all, but also be applied in ways that are not biased, unjust, or allow for misappropriation of application?
