Evaluates the effectiveness of child welfare neighborhood-based service networks and community-based organizations (CBOs) and provides recommendations for decreasing the number of foster care placements in the Asian Pacific American community in New York City. The percentage of Asian Pacific American foster care placement remains static even though an overall decline in placements followed the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS implementation of the Neighborhood Network program focusing on strengthening families. The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) determined that the Neighborhood Network system needs to conduct assessments in the Asian Pacific community and develop strategic outreach and educational goals using input from community leaders. The CBOs in the neighborhoods need to connect the Asian Pacific American community to Neighborhood Networks and ACS by requesting training and educational material on the child welfare system, child abuse laws, and parenting practices, and advocating for these services at policy levels. The ACS and policymakers must ensure that the Neighborhood Networks and the CBOs are collaborating to develop effective strategies and services to meet the needs of this community. Funding needs to be increased, language barriers removed, culturally competent staff recruited and training targeted, and assessments conducted to review the reasons that Asian Pacific Americans enter and leave the child welfare system. (IP)
