Child Welfare Practice With Immigrant Children and Families

Children in immigrant families represent nearly one-fourth of all children living in the United States. As this population of children has increased, so has their representation among children involved in child welfare and related systems. Once immigrant families come to the attention of these systems, they often have multiple and complex needs that must be addressed to ensure children's safety and well-being.

Culturally competent practice with Latino, Asian, and African immigrants requires that professionals understand the impact of immigration and acculturation on immigrant families to conduct adequate assessments and provide interventions that respond appropriately to their needs. Professionals also need to be familiar with federal and state policies that affect immigrant families and how those policies may affect service delivery. At the system level, child welfare agencies need to educate and train a culturally competent workforce that responds appropriately to children and families from diverse cultures.

This book addresses these critical issues and provides recommendations for the development of culturally competent assessment, intervention, and prevention activities in child welfare agencies. This information can be used as a resource by child welfare administrators, practitioners, and students to improve the child welfare system's response to immigrant children and families and promote culturally competent practice.

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Public Child Welfare.

Alan Dettlaff is Assistant Professor in the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Dettlaff practised for several years in public child welfare as a practitioner and administrator, where he specialized in investigations of child maltreatment. Dr. Dettlaff’s research interests focus on improving outcomes for children of colour in the child welfare system through the elimination of racial disparities. Dr. Dettlaff is also Principal Investigator of the Jane Addams Child Welfare Training Project, which provides advanced training and financial assistance to students pursuing careers in child welfare.

Rowena Fong is the Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professor in Services to Children and Families in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. She has worked with immigrants in the communities of Boston, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Austin. Her current research is focused on the needs and services available to international and domestic victims of human trafficking. She has over 100 publications and is the author of six books, of which three are about culturally competent practice.