Presents a five-step change model for child welfare providers to assess and improve cultural competence practice levels at personal and organizational levels. Cultural competence is defined as the ???ability to transform knowledge and cultural awareness into health and/or psychosocial interventions??? to support and maintain healthy client-system functioning. In the first step, precontemplation, individuals and organizations are unaware of cultural competence and increase their knowledge only due to supervisory insistence. In the second step, contemplation, individuals and the organization become mindful of the importance of cultural competence yet they have not committed to implementation. Many organizations fail to move beyond this step. In the third step, called preparation, serious commitment is demonstrated by the planning of an implementation strategy. The fourth step, action, is exemplified by expending time, effort, and financial resources to incorporate cultural competence principles in the delivery of child welfare services. In the fifth step, maintenance, cultural competence is integrated into the organization routine, and structures are created to solidify change efforts. Discussion of goals and tasks to effect change at each stage is outlined for organizations, individuals, and interprofessional coordination. Barriers to effective change include: a lack of commitment from senior organizational leaders and inadequate funding for focused training. (IP)
