Evidence-based practice and cultural competence in child welfare

["Susan J. Wells" <swells@xxxxxxx>]

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*CALL FOR PAPERS*
/For a / *SPECIAL ISSUE */of/
*CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES REVIEW*
ON
Evidence-based Practice in Child Welfare in the
Context of Cultural Competency
Editors: Susan J. Wells and Harold E. Briggs

/Children and Youth Services Review/ invites papers for a special issue 
focusing on implementing evidence-based practice (EBP) in child welfare 
services in the context of cultural competency. The field has long been 
concerned about promoting evidence-based practice. At the same time, 
social workers and allied professionals have worked to ensure that 
practitioners and policies in child welfare recognize and are responsive 
to racial, ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity in the families 
served. Yet seldom do the two themes intersect. This issue will focus on 
bringing together these topics as one to illustrate an approach in which 
one goal is always discussed in the context of the other.

Scholarly articles focusing on the juncture of evidence-based practice 
and cultural competence are being sought. Original research, secondary 
analyses, or rigorous qualitative studies pertaining to child welfare 
services are encouraged. In addition, critical analyses of the proposed 
intersection of these theoretical frameworks are welcome. Some examples 
of relevant articles might include (1) a description of the EBP process 
applied to work with consumer groups; (2) a case study of the process of 
implementing a major randomized controlled study that was developed with 
and focused on diverse populations or a specific population of interest 
in the child welfare field; (3) descriptions of and findings from 
community-based participatory research resulting in information on child 
welfare practice effectiveness with specific populations of interest; 
(4) studies of child welfare practice effectiveness that address the 
specific issues of concern to diverse populations; and (5) research that 
incorporates knowledge of racial inequities with the goal of improving 
the effectiveness of child welfare services for specific populations. 
These examples should not be seen as limiting but are provided to give 
an illustration of the many ways in which these issues may be juxtaposed 
in the improvement of child welfare practice and policy. Articles must 
be original (not previously published and currently not under review by 
another publication). They may pertain to direct practice, management 
and/or policy.

Articles should be double-spaced in 12 point font such as Times Roman 
with one inch margins. The title page should include (a) the article 
title; (b) the authors' names and affiliations at the time the work was 
completed; (c) the corresponding author's email address, telephone 
number, and mailing address; and (d) a concise running title. The 
author’s names should only appear on the title page to facilitate 
anonymous peer review. An abstract of no more than 200 words should be 
included with up to 10 key words that represent the major topics in the 
article. Please use the American Psychological Association manual of 
style. Except for address for submission, further authors’ instructions 
may be found at: http://www.childwelfare.com/kids/guide_for_authors.htm.

For further information about this initiative in child welfare, you may 
also see: http://ssw.che.umn.edu/EBP-CulturalCompetence.html.

Articles should be submitted in hard copy or electronically in Word, 
LaTeX, or Adobe Acrobat PDF to:

Susan J. Wells (swells@umn.edu)
Gamble-Skogmo Professor of Child Welfare and Youth Policy
School of Social Work, University of Minnesota
1404 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108

_Deadline for article receipt: October 15, 2007_

-- 
Susan J. Wells
Office: (612) 624-4721, swells@umn.edu
Fax: (612) 624-3744



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