Guides child welfare and human/social service organizations in reviewing their existing planning and implementation procedures, with the goal of ensuring that policies, programs, and practices are appropriate to a child’s and a family’s cultural values, traditions, needs, and expectations. Child welfare and human/social service professionals get basic information about: (1) why cultural competence is relevant to an agency; (2) how child welfare and related agencies have served people of color in the past; (3) the challenges and benefits of cultural competence; (4) the importance of including cultural competence in a strategic plan; (5) how an agency conducts a self-evaluation; (6) how an agency develops an action plan; (7) how change happens; (8) how an agency involves the community in change; and (9) how an agency practices cultural competence among its staff. Because cultural competence is a process, organizations striving to implement cultural competence principles need to plan, be persistent, and remain flexible. As the composition of the general population becomes more diverse, so will the needs of the children and families served by the child welfare system.
