Growth in Unaccompanied Children Program at HHS
May 18, 2016
By Andrew Keefe, Truman-Albright Fellow, Contract Research Analyst
The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) recently hosted the second webinar in its series, Enhancing the Cultural Responsiveness of Social Services. Over 50 federal employees, state and territory administrators, and technical assistance providers participated. They discussed strategies for fostering cultural awareness and knowledge as a way to improve services for diverse children and families.
Dr. Esther Calzada , an associate professor in social work at the University of Texas at Austin, moderated the conversation. She emphasized that cultural awareness and knowledge are one part of cultural responsiveness. Cultural awareness means acknowledging that everyone has a culture. Dr. Calzada explained that the cultures of federal employees and grantees shape their worldviews and interactions with stakeholders. Cultural knowledge refers to recognizing the languages, historical contexts, and values of others.
Dr. Calzada provided a list of guiding questions for human services providers to ask themselves:
- What do I know about the values, beliefs, customs, strengths, and resources of [specific group]?
- What do I know about the unique challenges of [specific group]?
- What do I know about the history of [specific group], particularly in regards to discrimination?
- What are my attitudes and beliefs about [specific group]?
- How did my family, community, education and life experiences as well as societal perceptions shape these beliefs?
- What values do I have, and from which culture(s) do these values come?
- How are my values similar to or different from those of people from [specific group]?
- How do these similarities and differences influence my work?
- How can I learn more about [specific group]?
Early Childhood Development Senior Policy Advisor Moushumi Beltangady talked abouthe Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. This program provides essential services to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and families. Ms. Beltangady described strategies that her grantees use to build cultural awareness among their staff, such as learning circles and parent advisory groups.
Ms. Beltangady said that Tribal Home Visiting staff members try to build their cultural knowledge by learning more about the children and families they serve. They work to acknowledge the value of Tribal sovereignty and self-determination to AI/AN communities, the legacy of trauma they have experienced, and their unique strengths and diversity. Ms. Beltangady also stressed the importance of honoring tribally- and community-driven decision-making. She explained that understanding these factors helps federal employees build trust with grantees and provide them with the flexibility they need.
Representatives from Native American Professional Parent Resources (NAPRR) , a Tribal Home Visiting grantee, also talked about their work. They discussed culturally responsive strategies they use to improve services for children and families. These included making cultural adaptations to parenting curricula and using promotional materials reflective of Native communities. NAPPR also establishes community partnerships and provides space for staff, families, and community members to have discussions.
The panelists emphasized that cultural responsiveness is an ongoing process with several components. These include cultural awareness and knowledge, but also organizational support and skills development.
Enhancing the Cultural Responsiveness of Social Services: Organizational Support
May 31 from 1:00 – 2:00pm
ACF staff and grantees may register for the webinar here
The next webinar in the series will focus on the dimension of organizational support. It will feature the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Ethnic Community Self-Help (ECSH) program.
ECSH supports community-based organizations to provide refugees with social services. The webinar will first highlight ECSH program features that exemplify organizational support for cultural responsiveness. For example, the program requires that grantees have refugee and/or immigrant directors. Several ECSH grantees will then discuss how organizational support affects their work with refugee families. Participants will be able to ask questions and brainstorm ways to increase organizational support in other programs.
Follow-Up Discussion
2:15 – 3:00pm
1-866-647-1593 (pass code: 9353306)
Following the webinar, OPRE will also host a follow-up discussion in partnership with ACF’s Office of Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity. Attendees will discuss strategies and resources for realizing organizational support of culturally responsive services, as well as challenges to doing so.
To learn more about the series or share ideas for topics to cover, please send an email to Andrew Keefe.
