Cultural Competency


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Cultural Competency
A Closer Look

Author(s): National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center for Systems of Care

Year Published: 2009

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"While children of color represent approximately 33 percent of all children in the United States, they are 55 percent of the foster care population. African-American children face the gravest disparities; they are 15 percent of the child population, yet 38 percent of the foster care population." (Pew Commission, 2004, p.50)

Table of Contents^*

Improving Child Welfare Outcomes Through Systems of Care

In 2003, the Children's Bureau funded nine demonstration grants to test the efficacy of a system of care approach to improving outcomes for children and families involved in the child welfare system and to address policy, practice, and cross-system collaboration issues raised by the Child and Family Services Reviews. Specifically, this initiative is designed to promote infrastructure change and strengthen the capacity of human service agencies to support families involved in public child welfare through a set of six guiding principles:

Interagency collaboration;

Individualized, strengths-based care;

Cultural and linguistic competence;

Child, youth, and family involvement;

Community-based approaches, and;

Accountability.

A Closer Look is a series of short reports that spotlight issues addressed by public child welfare agencies and their partners in implementing systems of care approaches to improve services and outcomes for children and families. These reports draw on the experiences of nine communities participating in the Children's Bureau's Improving Child Welfare Outcomes Through Systems of Care demonstration initiative, and summarize their challenges, promising practices, and lessons learned. Each issue of A Closer Look provides information that communities nationwide can use in planning, implementing, and evaluating effective child welfare driven systems of care, and is intended as a tool for administrators and policy-makers leading systems change initiatives.

^*The National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center wishes to thank the following individuals for their contributions to this resource: Nigel Nathaniel, the Honorable Karen Howze, and Richard Prince. back

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This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Updated on October 9, 2009

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children and Families
Administration on Children, Youth and Families
Children's Bureau

Child Welfare Information Gateway
Children's Bureau/ACYF
1250 Maryland Avenue, SW
Eighth Floor
Washington, DC 20024
703.385.7565 or 800.394.3366
Email: info@childwelfare.gov