Using Simulation Training to Improve Culturally Responsive Child Welfare Practice

Abstract

Child welfare professionals need to understand the complexities of the factors that influence parenting, values, and worldviews. Being able to work across cultures is critical to assessing safety, obtaining effective services, and creating permanent healthy families for children of color. The purpose of the project was to grapple with the challenge of increasing culturally responsive practice in a context of safety and permanency that is defined by American political and cultural values. The response to this challenge was a competency-based training program designed to enhance the effectiveness of child welfare practice with Latino families. A key feature of the training was a simulation to raise awareness and learning readiness through an experiential approach to learning. The simulation is the first component of a multi-faceted training curriculum aimed at the integration of culturally responsive practices in child welfare practice. The training series was part of a 3-year demonstration project funded by the Children's Bureau (Washington, DC).

KEYWORDS:

• simulation
• training
• culture
• cultural responsiveness
• child welfare

Notes

This project was supported by the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children Youth and Families, United States Department of Health and Human Services HHS-2004-ACF-ACYF-CT-0014 Grant No.: 90CT0130 Effective Child Welfare Practice with Hispanic Children and Families.

1. The terms Latino and Hispanic are not interchangeable or widely accepted. Each term reflects complex political issues about the origin of the label and the related meaning. For instance, the term Hispanic was imposed by the United States federal government for tracking of information and refers to Spanish speaking people. For a population of people whose identity is without an agreed-upon name, the larger question to consider is the consequences for empowerment and unity. Latino is predominately used here because it is the preference of one of the authors as the lesser of potentially oppressive labels.