Liza
Latino Children Lost in the US Foster Care System
ANNOTATED OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
Understanding diversity, cultural sensitivity, and culturally appropriate advocacy for the Latino children whom are in foster care and begin removed from their culture and being place with different races.
One of the major problems in foster care and adoption today is the lack of cultural competence in services to Latino children. Creating cultural bridges to meet the needs of the large numbers of African American and Latino children in foster care is still not common practice in human services.
The Council on Adoptable Children developed the first Hispanic Adoption Program in 1978 in New York. At that time, Latino children, who accounted for one-fourth of the city’s foster care population, were systematically placed along color lines in foster care and adoptive homes. Dark-skinned Latino children were placed with African American families, lighter-skinned children with Caucasian families. To stop that practice, a group of Latino professionals in 1982 founded the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families a nonprofit, community-based organization advocating for Latino families. In this paper I will broadly explore cultural diversity.
Exploring Diversity in Self
Cultural sensitivity begins with understanding and appreciating self. Individual with their own blend of culture, ethnicity, race, gender, class, sexual orientation, age, religion or spirituality, geographic location, and physical and mental abilities. Cultural Awareness developing sensitivity and understanding of another ethnic group. This usually involves internal changes in terms of attitudes and values. Awareness and sensitivity also refer to the qualities of openness and flexibility that people develop in relation to others. Cultural awareness must be supplemented with cultural knowledge(Adams, 1995).
Most people are knowledgeable and open about some aspects of their culture. About other aspects,
ANNOTATED OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
Understanding diversity, cultural sensitivity, and culturally appropriate advocacy for the Latino children whom are in foster care and begin removed from their culture and being place with different races.
One of the major problems in foster care and adoption today is the lack of cultural competence in services to Latino children. Creating cultural bridges to meet the needs of the large numbers of African American and Latino children in foster care is still not common practice in human services.
The Council on Adoptable Children developed the first Hispanic Adoption Program in 1978 in New York. At that time, Latino children, who accounted for one-fourth of the city’s foster care population, were systematically placed along color lines in foster care and adoptive homes. Dark-skinned Latino children were placed with African American families, lighter-skinned children with Caucasian families. To stop that practice, a group of Latino professionals in 1982 founded the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families a nonprofit, community-based organization advocating for Latino families. In this paper I will broadly explore cultural diversity.
Exploring Diversity in Self
Cultural sensitivity begins with understanding and appreciating self. Individual with their own blend of culture, ethnicity, race, gender, class, sexual orientation, age, religion or spirituality, geographic location, and physical and mental abilities. Cultural Awareness developing sensitivity and understanding of another ethnic group. This usually involves internal changes in terms of attitudes and values. Awareness and sensitivity also refer to the qualities of openness and flexibility that people develop in relation to others. Cultural awareness must be supplemented with cultural knowledge(Adams, 1995).
Most people are knowledgeable and open about some aspects of their culture. About other aspects,
Bibliography: Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism New York, BY: Basic Books (1992). Children’s Bureau Express (2001). Growing Latino population spurs efforts to recruit Latino foster and adoptive families. Cross T., Bazron,. (1989). Towards a culturally competent system of care, volume I. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Child Development Center, CASSP Technical Assistance Center. Adams, L. Diane (Ed.). (1995). Health issues for women of color: A cultural diversity perspective. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons (1992).