Walden University Cultural Influences of Social Policy with Latinos

Discussion 1: Cultural Influences of Social Policy Response

Respond to at least two colleagues by offering any other considerations your colleagues might need to consider when supporting the Hernandez family. Justify your recommendation.

Support your response with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

ORDER NOW FOR COMPREHENSIVE, PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPERS

Colleague 1: Tiffany

Post an explanation of how cultural considerations might affect child welfare policy

According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, social work’s principal mission is “to enhance human well-being and help meet basic and complex needs of all people, with a particular focus on those who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty.” So in order to do this a social worker must understand the cultural differences of the people we serve. As a social worker I will “likely encounter ideas, beliefs or traditions that are unfamiliar to me” (CGU, 2019). If I take the time to better understand the cultural differences I will better equipped to help the child and family in need. For example I believe the ACS worker jumped to conclusions in the case with the Hernandez family. Had she have taken the time to try and understand the cultural differences things might have worked out differently.

Then, explain what your responsibilities, as a social worker, might be in supporting the Hernandez family in addressing their child welfare needs through the accessibility of services.

In the case of the Hernandez family I really like the approach that the social worker took with them. As a social worker working with this family I would be sure to educate myself on Latino culture. For example I would have realized that “children have traditional roles in Latino families and are expected to behave and obey adults” (Seipel, 2020). With that being said I still do believe that this family would have benefited from parenting classes. It would be good for them to know expectations that are appropriate for children of their ages. I also agree that the classes should have been offered more than once a week. They could have even did something online and then scheduled an appointment to go over the material with the social worker when they were available. We also have to take into consideration that some of the things that we believe would benaift the family could also be causing them more harm.

References

Virginia Commonwealth University. (2019). Why Cultural Competence in Social Work Is a Vital Skill. Academic Learning Commons. https://onlinesocialwork.vcu.edu/blog/cultural-com…

Seipel, A. (2020). Culturally Competent Social Work Practice With Latino Clients. The new social worker. https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/ethi…

Colleague 2: Nicole

Post an explanation of how cultural considerations might affect child welfare policy.

Cultural considerations need to be taken into account with child welfare policies. The absence of cross-cultural considerations in both child welfare policy and practice limits the effectiveness of services to particularly children of color and their families. Research shows that the specific areas that need to be looked into are “past responses to children of color, worker-client interactions, and child protective services agencies” (sciencedirect.com). Families of racial and ethnic minority groups are investigated more frequently; their children are more often found to be “victims” of abuse, neglect, or maltreatment, and compared to “White families”, they experience a higher percentage of child removals from family homes.

Poverty, exposure to violence, drugs, teenage pregnancy, and other contextual factors place families of color at risk for child welfare involvements. in addition, according to Hornberger et al, “culturally incompetent practices place families at increased risk for these and other negative outcomes, thereby increasing the burden on vulnerable families”. This is represented clearly in the Hernandez case.

Explain what your responsibilities, as a social worker, might be in supporting the Hernandez family in addressing their child welfare needs through the accessibility of services.

As a social worker and adhering to the NASW Code of Ethics and supporting the Hernandez family, this practice would include the values of dignity and worth of a person, the importance of human relationships and competence. Through these values, a social worker is encouraged to “treat each person in a caring and respectful fashion, mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity”, “seek to strengthen relationships among people in a purposeful effort to promote, restore, maintain, and enhance the well-being of individuals, families, social groups, organizations, and communities” and “continually strive to increase their professional knowledge and skills and to apply them in practice”, (NASW, 2017).

References

Childwelfare.gov

Hornberger, S., Gardner, S., Young, N., Gannon, N., & Osher, T. (2005). Improving the quality of care for the most vulnerable children, youth, and their families: Finding consensus.

National Association of Social Workers. (2017). NASW code of ethics. Retrieved Month, Day, Year, from https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of…

sciencedirect.com