PARENTS AT RISK OF LOSING THEIR PARENTAL RIGHTS: EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES THROUGH COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS AND CULTURALLY-BASED PROGRAMMING

SKILL SEMINAR H

Marcia A. Sturdivant, Ph.D.
Allegheny County
Department of Human Services
Children, Youth and Family Services
One Smithfield Street, Suite 400
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

PARENTS AT RISK OF LOSING THEIR PARENTAL RIGHTS: EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES THROUGH COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS AND CULTURALLY-BASED PROGRAMMING

African-American parents and children are over-represented in groups exposed to structural variables that negatively influence level of aspiration and child abuse and neglect (i.e., high levels of poverty, inadequate resources, and low socio-economic status). In addition, when parents internalize the limited world view presented to them through racist social forces, the incidence of negative outcomes increases. Important questions are raised. Do structural and cultural variables affect parent level of aspiration? Do parents' views of their own potentials influence the aspirations they hold for their children and influence their parenting practices? What intervention strategies are effective for African-American parents in combating negative outcomes? This presentation will present an innovative and culturally specific home-based intervention program aimed at reducing levels of cultural alienation, child maltreatment, and foster care placement.

Family reunification efforts had been shown to be largely unsuccessful -- a concern which motivated this project. An analysis by the presenters of current needs in relation to existing services revealed several areas of weakness. Many parents whose children enter foster care are not fully aware of legal grounds and implications of the decision to place their children in foster care. Sometimes literacy is a problem. Other times there may be a problem with the style in which legal grounds and implications are communicated. In still other instances, there may be a problem of suspicion and mistrust. Finally, the belief that "I am an unworthy parent with limited capabilities" and, more alarmingly, "I have unworthy children" was all too evident in the population under study.

If parents do not understand legal grounds and implications of placing their children in foster care and, furthermore, do not believe they can obtain positive outcomes for themselves or their children, they are unlikely to follow up on prescribed interventions or treatments that promote the safe return of their children and prevent subsequent child maltreating behaviors. Parents whose children are placed in foster care do not have uniform access to specialized and culturally relevant interventions and treatments that improve the likelihood of the safe return of their children.

This project retained (in collaboration with the Pittsburgh NAACP) attorneys with backgrounds in family law whose social and cultural experiences maximize prospects of getting through to parents whose children have been placed in foster care. Through creative collaboration and training, the program provides coordinated social and legal services and specialized foster care intervention, working with birth parents and the foster parents as a team versus adversaries.