Abstract
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.
Highlights
The debate centers on whether multicultural practice has been conceptually delineated from cultural diversity or cultural pluralism, as these are often used interchangeably as foundations to cultural competence
Atherton and Bolland (1997) suggested the multiculturalism debate is a mask for radical politics but conceded that social workers generally accept that the United States is a diverse society and that culture plays an important role in family and community dynamics
Fellin (2000) stated that constructs that relate to culturally competent practice remain imprecise, multicultural practice is essential to social work
Summary
Organizational Barriers Organizational barriers to cultural competence represent the most formidable challenge at the multisystem level. On one occasion at the conclusion of a three-day cultural competence training, a worker expressed her concern that the workshop had ”opened up areas for us that will make it difficult to work with coworkers once you [the workshop leaders] are gone.”She believed it was better not to raise issues of race despite the obvious tenuousness of interprofessional relationships that existed within the agency. Interprofessional relationships often rest on fragile connections that can quickly escalate into counterproductive responses through seemingly minor events When workers hold such divergent views of intense issues and do not have the commitment or skill necessary to address them, relationships will remain restricted to surface areas and effectively stall cultural competence. This vacuum prevents individuals from developing empathy or appropriate intervention skills for the people who carry the brunt of oppression both externally and internally
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