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Resource Library: Cultural Competency |
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LATINO CULTURE, CHILD WELFARE, AND FAMILY SUPPORT |
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| Document Author: Maria Vidal de Haymes and Ivan Medina Contact: Family Resource Coalition Date Posted: April 16,1999 |
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| In the literature discussing Latino families and the child welfare
system, many suggestions have emerged for planning and implementing culturally responsive
services that protect children while strengthening their families. These measures include:
(1) advocating in both the legislative and legal arenas for the cultural modification of
policies and the expansion of social services, and (2) formalizing the informal family
supports found in Latino communities, (3) removing institutional and programmatic barriers
to recruiting Latino foster and adoptive parents, and (4) educating Latino parents and
other caregivers about U.S. norms and laws regarding childrearing. This article reviews the literature on child welfare and minority families. The review is supplemented with the experiences of the Assocation House of Chicago (AHC), a multi-service settlement house that is the largest provider of child welfare services to Latinos in Illinois, in providing culturally competent child welfare services to an urban Latino community. Legislative and Legal Advocacy of Latino Families Some child welfare scholars and practitioners argue that good child welfare practice requires assessing the functioning of the family and its members within the social context. Such an assessment looks beyond intrafamilial concerns to include external systems--economic, educational, social, political and legal--that impact families' ability to effectively function. These scholars and practitioners advise that child welfare programs should have a dual focus: (1) enhancing the ability of individuals and families to fulfill their wants, needs, and social functions; and (2) working towards an environment that is supportive socially, politically, and economically. While such a holistic approach is at the core of good child welfare practice, it is more urgent when working with Latino families, who often find themselves in a social context that ranges from unsupportive to hostile. Historically, Latinos' contact with the child welfare system has been negative. Latino families were excluded from the formal child welfare system through the early and middle 20th century. The current treatment of Latino children continues to reflect racial bias. Hoagan and Siu write: "The system responds more slowly to crisis in minority families; such families have less access to support services... Black and Hispanic children receive less comprehensive service plans...Thus, minority children are overrepresented in substitute services, and a greater discrepancy exists between recommended and delivered services for minority children than for non-minority." Jenkins, et al. found that Latino children in foster care stayed an average of 26 months--six months longer than an Anglo child's average stay. This finding is particularly disturbing given that Delgado found an "underutilization of supportive child welfare services and an involuntary overutilization of substitute services." With such findings, not only should direct services be provided, but the Latino community's need for the cultural modification and expansion of social services must also be fulfilled. Several legislative and legal mechanisms exist in advocating for Latino families. For instance, community-based programs can serve on the advisory committees of state agencies and public officials (e.g., the Attorney General's Office). Relationships with the staff of state agencies--and ensuring Latino representation within them--is also important in effectively advocating for Latino families. For instance, in 1991 AHC supported the Legal Assistance Foundation in a motion against the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for non-compliance with the Burgos Decree. The consent decree mandates that all services and documents offered to Spanish-speaking clients be available in Spanish and that DCFS hire enough workers to serve Latino clients in Chicagoland and the suburb of Aurora. More recently, as a member of the Latino Coalition for Better Public and Community Services, AHC was successful in preventing DCFS from laying off a large number of disproportionately Latino and black staff. In striving to advocate for all Latino families, AHC frequently assists families who are not their clients, but who are receiving inadequate child welfare services and would like the group to advocate on their behalf. Formalizing Informal Latino Family Supports One of the most significant areas of research regarding Latino cultural practices has been extended family and fictive kin networks. Extended-family households provide economic and social support by enabling families with limited resources to pool them. Several researchers have found that Latino families sustain complex, often binational, intercommunity, extra-household linkages and patterns of helpful exchange after immigration. Furthermore, such networks facilitate the process of immigration and accommodation by providing both social and economic support. One way of recognizing and actively engaging these informal supports is by extending the notion of kinship to include nonbiological or fictive kin, such as *compadres* and *padrinos*. Vidal suggests that child welfare workers become especially aware of the importance and nature of godparenting (compradrazgo) in the Latino community and use it as a resource for permanency planning. When serving families, AHC workers are trained to look for such supports. If child placement is necessary, the organization is often successful in placing the child with viable members of the child's non-biological or extended family. This strategy spares the child the added stress of adapting to yet another foster family during the period. In conclusion, with the Latino population projected to be the largest minority group in the next century, and with Latinos comprising a disproportionate percentage of poor children, only culturally responsive child welfare practices--which include legislative advocacy and formalization of community resources-can make the American system work for Latinos. (Condensed from "Latino Culture, Child Welfare, and Family Support: Engaging Informal Supportive Cultural Practices," by Maria Vidal de Haymes and Ivan Medina, in the Fall/Winter 19941995 issue of the *FRC Report*, entitled "Empowerment and Latino Families") "Empowerment and Latino Families" contains 15 articles on topics relating to Latino families and family support by noted Latino scholars and advocates, including Maxine Baca Zinn, Maria Chavez, and Jerry Tello. The publication is available from the Family Resource Coalition for $10.00 plus $2.00 shipping and handling. For more information contact: Family Resource Coalition |
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