Child Welfare Services and EthnoRacial Diversity

1
Child Welfare Services and Ethno-Racial
Diversity

• Dr. Sarah Maiter
• email smaiter_at_wlu.ca

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Understanding Child Welfare Steele Belskey

• Four Areas to consider
• Parent Factors
• Child Factors
• Environmental factors
• Availability of Social Supports

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Challenge of Framework

• How to make the framework meaningful and
  applicable to people from diverse ethnic and
  racial backgrounds?

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Key Issues to Consider

• Race, ethnicity, and culture are important
  sociological concepts and have material and
  social consequences for people so must be
  considered in analysis.
• This consideration can result in greater, albeit
  tentative and exploratory understanding of the
  contexts of diverse people.

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Traditional Approach

• We have tried to understand a groups culture in
  order to provide appropriate services.
• Yet the outcome of this has been that we have
  explored issues in a culture that we think result
  in child maltreatment.
• Thus for example it would not be uncommon to hear
  some of the following statements in a child
  welfare setting

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Some Generalizations

• In their culture they demand obedience from
  children, therefore, they do not treat children
  as individuals with rights
• Why dont they let their daughter go on a
  dateshe is fifteen years old

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Generalizations

• It maybe alright in their countrybut here it is
  against the law
• it is their culture to discipline their children
  harshly

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Training that can be harmful

• Statements such as the following in training
• Some ethnic or cultural backgrounds may be more
  likely to condone severe spankings or beatings as
  a form of discipline.

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Further Concerns Accepting problem behaviour as
cultural

• One example
• A judge gives a man a lighter sentence for
  sodomizing his daughter. The judge asserts that
  this is a culturally sensitive approach as the
  man protected the daughters virginity which, the
  judge says is important in the familys religion.
  

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What does this say about our approach to
ethno/racial/cultural diversity

• We continue to see this diversity as different
  and other.
• This difference and being the other is judged as
  being inferior.
• This is not new, it has been the case
  historically and seeing the difference as
  inferior has made it possible to colonize and
  conquer.

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Impact in Child Welfare

• We tend to see groups as monoliths
• We focus on problems within a culture
• Different ways of living are seen as problematic
• Child abuse and neglect are seen to have been
  caused by culture
• Focus is on getting the family to change this
  cultural behaviour
• And we fail to provide appropriate ongoing
  services
• Settlement needs of immigrant families are seen
  as a burden on Canadian Society

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Research in Counseling raises concerns

• 50 of persons of color terminated counseling
  after one session compared to 30 of white
  persons.
• Reasons cited
• lack of non-white staff,
• traditional approach to service provision,
• poor responses to the educational and vocational
  needs of ethnically diverse clients,
• antagonistic response to culture, class, and
  language. (Sue Sue 1990)

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Moving ForwardSelf Awarness

• On a personal level Self Awareness is critical.
• We need to be reflective.
• Recognize that we are influenced in a myriad ways
  by history, current events, the media, etc.
• Affects our perceptions and interactions with
  members of diverse groups.
• Embedded in our institutions.

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Moving ForwardBeing Aware of the Context

• Along with self-awareness we must increase our
  knowledge of the context of members of diverse
  ethno-racial groups in non-judgmental ways.
• Knowledge of the daily experiences of racism
• For Newcomers - struggles around settlement
  issues -- both at the personal and societal
  levels.
• Knowledge of broad cultural differences, e.g.
  collectivist and individualistic cultural
  differences.
• Knowledge of problems that are universal, e.g.
  oppression of the less powerful (women, children)
  in any group.
• Societal struggles within particular groups to
  fight this oppression.