Developing Culturally Competent Adoption Services

In this section, managers and administrators will find resources to help them develop culturally competent adoption services.

All Children, All Families: Achieving Safety, Permanency and Well-Being by Improving Practice With LBGTQ Youth and Families
Human Rights Campaign Foundation (2019)
Promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ)-inclusive policies and practices among child welfare agencies and helps these organizations assess their own policies as they relate to this community. Participating agencies are given access to resources, including an online self-assessment tool, webinars, group-based technical assistance, and more.

Cultural Competence Training
National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice (2019)
Offers cultural competence trainings that focus on understanding and enhancing the strengths and resilience of diverse families and communities. The training is offered at the supervisor/management level, which covers becoming a culturally competent organization.

CW360: Culturally Responsive Child Welfare Practice (PDF - 9,902 KB)
Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota School of Social Work (2015)
Presents a series of articles on the intersection of culture and child welfare practice. Articles on adoption include, "Initiative Serves as a Culturally Responsive Community Outreach and Recruitment Model for Foster Care and Adoption With African Heritage Communities" on page 23 and "Customary Adoption at White Earth Nation" on page 28.

Developing Culturally Responsive Approaches to Serving Diverse Populations: A Resource Guide for Community-Based Organizations (PDF - 5,827 KB)
López, Hofer, Bumgarner, & Taylor (2017)
National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families  
Offers a guide for community-based programs on how to become more culturally responsive to the needs of increasingly diverse populations. The guide directs users to tools and resources they can use and adapt to strengthen their capacity to provide culturally competent services.

Enhancing Cultural Competence in Social Service Agencies: A Promising Approach to Serving Diverse Children and Families (PDF - 803 KB)
Calzada & Suarez-Balcazar (2014)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation
Provides an overview of cultural competence for organizations serving children and families from diverse backgrounds, focusing primarily on the Hispanic population. The information presented on cultural competence, however, is relevant to other populations served. 

ICWA Webinar #3: Tribal Customary Adoption [Video]
California Indian Legal Services (2016)
Explains the ways in which Tribal customary adoption preserves a child's cultural heritage while allowing for an adoptive placement.

The Indian Child Welfare Act and Fostering Youth Cultural Identity: A New Model to Provide Culturally Competent Services to American Indian Children, Families, and Tribes
LaPlante (2017)
American Psychological Association
Describes culturally competent services being provided to American Indian children, families, and Tribes and discusses the successful approach, which could be expanded to be used for other diverse populations served by child welfare agencies.

Preserving a Cultural Link for Asian Children in Foster Care
Abram (2018)
The Chronicle of Social Change
Explores the Asian Foster Family Initiative, which aims to raise awareness about the need for Asian families from all cultural backgrounds to become licensed foster care providers. 

Site Videos
Quality Improvement Center for Adoption Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG)
Chronicles the implementation of the QIC-AG permanency continuum framework at eight partner sites around the country, including one Tribe. The videos include the personal accounts of the staff and families that participated in the implementation.

Third Culture Kids: What Is Your Child Experiencing?
Walsh (2016)
National Council for Adoption
Discusses third culture kids, which refers to children raised in a culture outside of their biological culture for a significant part of their developmental years. The resource also describes how adoptive parents can maintain connections with their child's birth culture and introduce them to others from the same culture.

Twenty Things Supervisors Can Do to Support Workers to Competently Practice With LGBTQ Children, Youth, and Families (PDF - 396 KB)
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (2015)
Shares techniques supervisors can use to support cultural competence in their organization when it comes to working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) children, youth, and families.

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