Covers critical issues for those in social services fields who work with multicultural children and families representing varied religious, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The initial chapter details the history of child welfare in the U.S. from the colonial period to the laws of the 1990s and provides an overview of child welfare policy and services. Next, readers learn the framework for fairness and justice as well as child welfare system decision points and social work competencies for equal practice. In separate chapters, each containing numerous case studies, the authors profile the strengths and needs of specific client populations. African American children, youth, and families face higher rates of poverty, unemployment, imprisonment, out-of-home placements, substance abuse, and reduced levels of health care and child care. American Indian and Alaska Native communities are committed to traditional cultural values, beliefs, and behaviors that have created a legacy of survival and strength. Asian American culture, with its tradition of mutual support and interdependence, emphasis on parental authority, and rigid gender roles, encounters adjustment difficulties and intergenerational tensions from life in the U.S. Latinos represent a mix of cultures from Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico as well as other Central and South American countries; interventions for these clients should follow a strengths-based generalist approach. White ethnic immigrants encompass Russian Jews, Irish, Italian, and Middle Eastern backgrounds, and experience different problems with poverty, education, employment, and integration into U.S. society depending on their cultural values and traditions. Traumatized refugees and asylum-seekers have confronted violence, torture, sexual abuse, human trafficking, and natural disasters- all of which call for special considerations in assessment and child protective services. (IP)
