Re: race matching and child welfare

[bill higgins <bill_higginsus@xxxxxxxxx>]

If there is no research to support matching of clients
and workers then why is there a big push for more
African American caseworkers?  I thought this was
believed to improve outcomes for African American
children in foster care.  

Bill




--- Karen Adshead <karen@kadshead.com> wrote:
> Most of the research I have read looks at developing
> cultural competency in
> workers, not culture matching. Cultural competency
> does not assume that
> workers, by virtue of belonging to the same cultural
> contexts as their
> clients, are competent solely through their
> membership in the group. This
> assumes that there is a heterogeneity within
> culture, diversity exist within
> culture, and certainly within race. The priority
> then becomes in providing
> culturally appropriate, rather than of culturally
> specific, services to
> clients, and ensuring that a workers responses,
> interventions and planning
> are cognisant and articulate how they will consider
> and support the cultural
> identity of the child.
> 
> You might want to consider looking at matching in
> some cases. For instance,
> some First Nations communities in Canada have had
> their authority over their
> own children recognized, and have established, or
> are in the process of
> establishing, separate aboriginal child
> protection/child welfare authorities
> and services. This example of a post-colonial
> context, where there is an
> attempt to redress structural inequity and practices
> of cultural genocide
> which have occurred as a result of assimilationist
> policies in Canada.
> 
> Karen Adshead
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bill Moore" <wmoore@cinci.rr.com>
> To: "Child Maltreatment Researchers"
> <CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 1:27 PM
> Subject: Re: race matching and child welfare
> 
> 
> > And in fact here in Ohio the state was fined by
> the feds for this very
> > practice, extending the time significantly for
> minority children to be
> > adopted.
> >
> > bill moore
> >
> >
> > > It's illegal to consider race in making a
> placement except for the
> > > specific needs of a specific child.  That might
> actually be a violation
> > > of the law.
> > >
> > > >>> bill_higginsus@yahoo.com 11/21/03 17:02 PM
> >>>
> > > We are running a training for new workers. 
> Someone
> > > asked about matching the race of the child with
> the
> > > race of the worker.  Is there any research on
> this
> > > topic?  Does it seem to make a difference?
> > >
> > > Bill Higgins
> > >
> > > __________________________________
> > > Do you Yahoo!?
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> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> 


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