Conducting culturally competent evaluations of child welfare programs and practices

As the population of the United States has changed over the last two decades, so has the population of children who come to the attention of the child welfare system, resulting in increasing calls for cultural competence in all aspects of child welfare programming and practice. Given the changing demographics among children involved in the child weltare system and the increasing need to address the racial and ethnic disparities observed in this system, the need for culturally competent approaches to evaluate the outcomes of services for children and families is essential. This article discusses the challenges in conducting culturally competent evaluations and provides strategies to address those challenges within a child welfare context.     

Beyond the rhetoric: strategies for implementing culturally effective practice with children,families, and communities

Culturally effective practice remains elusive within child welfare agencies. Recognizing the hierarchical nature of becoming culturally competent, this article presents specific strategies that enhance cultural effectiveness at the individual, interprofessional, middle management, and upper management levels. The approaches evolve from a five-stage model of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Becoming culturally competent requires a clear assessment of where the individual practitioner and agency are on the change continuum. The article also explores barriers to culturally competent practice, with a focus on multilevel strategies that work within child welfare agencies.     

Moving toward cultural competence in the child welfare system

This paper uses a culturally competent (Cross, Bazron, Dennis & Isaacs, 1989) perspective to examine the child welfare system's, namely protective services, response to children of color. The purpose of the paper is to indicate how the absence of cross-cultural considerations in both child welfare policy and practice, limits the effectiveness of service delivery to children of color and their families. Specifically, three key aspects of the child welfare system are addressed: past responses to children of color, worker-client interactions, and child protective service agencies. The paper ends with several recommendations.     

Culturally Competent Practice with African American Juvenile Sex Offenders

African American juveniles adjudicated for sexual offenses may struggle with the mistrust of both the judicial and treatment systems. Unlike general mental health services, juvenile sex offender treatment is often mandated by the court or child welfare services, thus these youths and their families must engage in the treatment process. Without clinicians and services that can acknowledge and respond to a minority youth’s experience in a sensitive, culturally competent manner, there could be significant resistance to treatment. Traditional treatment approaches fail to prioritize issues involving cultural competence. This article addresses the unique challenges of African American juvenile sex offenders and makes recommendations for creating culturally competent practice for these youth and their families.     

Defining Culturally Competent Practice with Sexual Minorities: Implications for Social Work Education and Practice

In recent years, social work has placed an increasing emphasis on culturally competent practice. Although use of that term has referred primarily to practice with ethnic and racial minorities, the concept has been broadened to include social work with other culturally diverse populations. This article examines the application of cultural competence principles to practice with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered clients. Attitude, knowledge, and skill components are addressed to delineate a culturally competent approach to social work with sexual minorities. Implications for practice, education, and the profession are also discussed.     

“If I Did It Over There,I Can Do It Here”: U.S. Latinx Social Work Students in Costa Rican Service Placements Deepening Their Professional Identity and Skills

ABSTRACT

Social work student participation in global experiences continues to increase despite limited research on the impacts of these educational experiences on knowledge and skill development. This article reports on professional identity and skill development for 25 U.S. Latinx students who completed internships or service-learning projects in Costa Rica while living with host families. Three groups of MSW students spent 6 weeks in full-time summer internships and one group of primarily BASW students completed two-week summer service-learning projects and language immersion course work. Through longitudinal qualitative data collected before, during, and after the time abroad, and the use of the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards as a conceptual framework to assess learning outcomes, three key areas of professional gains emerged: demonstrate ethical and professional behavior, engage diversity and difference in practice, and engage with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. This study reveals specific benefits of opportunities for students assumed to already be culturally competent with clients of related backgrounds because of language or ethnic similarities. Discussion on the findings and implications for social work educators and students is included.     

Beyond cultural competence: language access and Latino civil rights

Social services remain largely unresponsive to the values and needs of Latino families, who often need Spanish-language services. This article discusses access to linguistically appropriate services, not just as a culturally competent practice, but also as a civil rights issue. Spanish speakers have protection from discrimination in federally funded human services under Title VI of the Civil Rights Law of 1964. The article discusses implications for all aspects of private and public child welfare, including investigations, foster care, family preservation, adoption, and quality assurance.     

Challenging implicit bias: preparing students to practice with African American families

ABSTRACT

The disparity of African American families in the foster care system is a concern in the field of child welfare services and the social work profession. African American families experience unique challenges related to discriminatory practices and implicit biases in the child welfare system and by mandated reporters. To address these inequalities, state and local agencies have implemented prevention and intervention services to support minority families. Additionally, child welfare agencies have invested in professional development training for their workers to alleviate possible intolerant practices. This article describes implicit biases and considers how they could contribute to the disparity of African American families involved in the child welfare system. Furthermore, the article presents approaches to help social work students to identify and challenge their implicit biases to support culturally sensitive practices while working with African American families. It concludes with implications for social work education.     

Integrating cultural competency and empirically-based practices in child welfare services: A model based on community psychiatry field principles of health

Acknowledging the existence of racism in our society is crucial to understanding the need for a culturally competent approach to developing empirically-based practices in child welfare, thereby providing a foundation for evidence-based practice in the field. Advancements have already been made in mental health to address cultural competence and evidence-based practice. This article presents a model of seven field principles of health promotion successfully used in the mental health services. Examples of the use of the model in various settings and evaluation projects are provided. Each of the seven principles – rebuilding/supporting the village; providing access to health care; improving bonding, attachment and connectedness; improving self-esteem; increasing social skills of target recipients; reestablishing/strengthening the adult protective shield; and minimizing residual effects of trauma (Bell et al., 2002) – is elaborated. The model's critical role in establishing culturally competent evidence-based practice is further outlined for application in the field of child welfare.     

Bias, racism and evidence-based practice: The case for more focused development of the child welfare evidence base

In spite of continuing concerns about disproportionate representation of African Americans, American Indians, and selected other groups in foster care, development of the practice and policy evidence base has paid scant attention to incorporating the specific concerns of these communities in intervention research. The authors review the current foundation of evidence-based practice and identify gaps in the knowledge base with specific reference to race/ethnicity/culture and class. They recognize the current concerns regarding disproportionality in child welfare services; and summarize the current research on bias and racism to establish potential mechanisms contributing to racially disproportionate outcomes. Addressing these literatures in concert with one another gives new meaning to the phrase, culturally competent evidence-based practice. Culturally competent practice goes beyond admonishing practitioners and policy makers to be more sensitive or to undertake such training. It is a pathway to the development of a more targeted and relevant evidence base: 1) rigorous intervention research with diverse populations could be more intentionally developed and 2) existing rigorous research on successfully addressing bias could be more broadly applied and tested in child welfare. A model for evaluating the validity of the evidence base with respect to diverse populations is proposed.     

Promising Innovations in Child Welfare Education: Findings From a National Initiative

For many years, schools of social work have engaged in partnerships, especially with public child welfare agencies, to prepare a competent and professional child welfare workforce through the mechanism of Title IV-E training. In 2008 the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) established an additional resource for preparing students in social work schools for child welfare practice. Twelve NCWWI traineeship programs supported a diverse group of BSW and MSW students from 2008 to 2013 and prepared them for client-centered practice informed by child welfare and leadership competencies. This article highlights a curriculum innovation in an MSW program and a field innovation in a BSW program that were designed to increase the readiness of BSW and MSW students for child welfare practice.     

A culturally responsive practice model for urban Indian child welfare services

This article describes collaboration among a university, a state child welfare agency, and a Native American community organization to develop a culturally driven practice model for urban, Native American child welfare. The approach includes a strategy to build resources to serve Native American clients, a training program for child welfare and court personnel using a culturally responsive curriculum, and an advocacy program that monitors for Indian Child Welfare Act compliance and provides assistance to child welfare workers and the court. The discussion identifies challenges and opportunities in addressing the needs of urban Native American communities. The article concludes with principles for culturally responsive practice for urban Native American child welfare practice.     

Building cultural competence: A systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of culturally sensitive interventions with ethnic minority youth

Growing diversity within the US population accentuates the need for the development and implementation of culturally competent services in the field of child welfare. Despite this, few studies exist that examine the effectiveness of culturally sensitive interventions (CSIs) with ethnic minority populations, who are considerably more at risk of developing psychosocial problems including substance and alcohol abuse, delinquency, low academic achievement, and poor self-esteem. With the demand for evidence-based practice it is imperative that we examine the effectiveness of CSIs designed to prevent and treat youth problems. The main goal of this review was to systematically analyze the methodology of recent CSI research with populations of ethnic minority youth in order to evaluate each intervention's ability to adhere to existing standards of evidence-based practice. The fifteen CSI studies examined in this review illustrate progress in their attempt to adhere to the methodological rigor required of evidence-based practice. This review encourages the field of child welfare to position itself analogously with and embrace the movement toward building cultural competence by further investigating the effectiveness of culturally-sensitive interventions with ethnic minority youth.     

A qualitative study on the pros and cons of ethnically matching culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) client families and child protection caseworkers

A review of the literature indicated that empirical research into the advantages and disadvantages of ethnically matching child protection caseworkers and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) client families is not extensive. The main aim of this study was to address this gap. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 29 CALD client families and 17 child protection caseworkers (as part of a larger study). It was found that if CALD families fear a breach of confidentiality (because of cultural reasons to protect the family's privacy and name), and this fear exceeds the two main benefits of ethnic matching – namely, that it helps overcome language barriers and provides (cultural) sensitivity – then they are likely to prefer a non-matched caseworker. This may be a challenge in child protection practice if the pool of culturally competent caseworkers is small. Another challenge identified was when CALD families preferred an ethnic match but was seen by case managers as a risk to the accurate assessment of a child's wellbeing because the caseworker was over-identifying with the client family. Thus, the provision of a culturally sensitive service can be at odds with the need to protect children from harm. This issue is seen as best addressed on a case by case basis. This study is significant because it has shown that ‘over-identification’ is an important work practice issue in this matter. It has also used empirical evidence to inform best practice principles regarding ethnic matching.     

NCWWI Traineeships: A National Cross-Site Evaluation of Child Welfare Stipend Programs for Ethnically Diverse Students

The task of recruiting and retaining ethnically diverse, qualified, and committed social workers in child welfare is challenging. Federal funding supporting BSW and MSW education has been a catalyst for university–agency partnerships across the country. An important goal of these partnerships is to prepare social work students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies for effective child welfare practice. The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute’s innovative child welfare traineeships program prepares students from 12 social work programs around the country. This study focused on diversity, competency attainment, and readiness for the job. Results showed that programs recruited ethnically diverse students, and after receiving child welfare–specific content and hands-on experiences in the field, students felt competent and prepared for child welfare work.     

African American Families and the Role of Physical Discipline: Witnessing the Past in the Present

The use of physical discipline within African American families is examined from a historical perspective within the context of institutionalized racism and racial disproportionality in the child welfare system. African American parenting strengths are explored, demonstrating that the use of physical discipline can be purposeful, controlled, and appropriate, utilized to protect African American children and instruct them how to behave and survive within a racist society. Available literature on corporal punishment is reviewed, and implications for culturally informed child welfare practice are provided.     

Social Workers’ Preparation for Child Protection: Revisiting the Question of Specialisation

Abstract

Child welfare work is a key field of practice for social work graduates and for graduates of a growing range of disciplines. In the present paper, the authors drew on a survey of 208 child welfare workers and interviews with 28 senior personnel in child and family welfare agencies to analyse perceptions of the educational preparation of social workers and other human science graduates for this field of practice. The findings indicated that child welfare workers and employers are ambivalent about the value of social work and other generic social science and human services programmes as preparation for tertiary or statutory child protection practice, which involves investigation, assessment, and intervention in child abuse and neglect. The authors argue that the social work profession must better balance generic and specialist aspects to prepare graduates for practice in specialist fields of high social work involvement, particularly in tertiary child protection work.     

Issues in African-American family preservation

This article is concerned with African-American family preservation. The authors' assumptions are that (1) child welfare service takes place in a cultural context; (2) effective work with African-American families requires a culturally relative "nondeficit" perspective on African-American culture; (3) this begins with helping service providers to acquire an analytical approach to culture and factual knowledge about the cultural behavior of clients; and (4) staff members must be prepared through training to implement a cultural knowledge base in transactions with African-American families and must have the supervisory and policy supports to do this. The several practice issues central to African-American family preservation are highlighted.     

Developing collaborations between child welfare agencies and Latino communities

Collaborative efforts to achieve permanency planning and family stability for all children in the child welfare system are increasing. As Latino children and families constitute the fastest growing ethnic group in the child welfare system, it is important to understand how to develop culturally sensitive collaborations with their communities. The purpose of this article is to suggest helpful guidelines for developing collaborations between child welfare agencies and Latino communities.     

Cultural Competence and Social Work Education: Moving Toward Assessment of Practice Behaviors

Social work educators are responsible for ensuring that future practitioners are culturally competent and have the ability to work effectively with people from different backgrounds. The purpose of this article is to address the current limitations in measuring cultural competence and to report the results of a qualitative study examining stakeholders’ conceptualizations of the definition, educational process, and evaluation of cultural competence in social work education. Findings support long-standing assumptions in the literature regarding the need for social workers to develop certain knowledge and attitudes as prerequisites of becoming culturally competent, and emphasize the need for further exploration of the way social workers define cultural competence, translate it into discrete practice behaviors, and assess how students demonstrate these behaviors.