Child Abuse and Culture Working with Diverse Families

by Fontes, Lisa Aronson; Conte, Jon R.

• ISBN13: 9781593856434
• ISBN10: 1593856431
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-18
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

This expertly written book provides an accessible framework for culturally competent practice with children and families in child maltreatment cases. Numerous workable strategies and concrete examples are presented to help readers address cultural concerns at each stage of the assessment and intervention process. Professionals and students learn new ways of thinking about their own cultural viewpoints as they gain critical skills for maximizing the accuracy of assessments for physical and sexual abuse; overcoming language barriers in parent and child interviews; respecting families' values and beliefs while ensuring children's safety; creating a welcoming agency environment; and more.

Author Biography

Lisa Aronson Fontes, PhD, is a Core Faculty Member in Union Institute & University’s PsyD Program in Clinical Psychology. She has dedicated almost two decades to making the social service, mental health, criminal justice, and medical systems more responsive to culturally diverse people. Dr. Fontes has published widely on cultural issues in child maltreatment and violence against women, cross-cultural research, and ethics. She has worked as a family, individual, and group psychotherapist, and has conducted research in Santiago, Chile, and with Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and European Americans in the United States. In 2007 she was awarded a Fulbright Foundation Fellowship, which she completed in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dr. Fontes is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and is a popular conference speaker and workshop facilitator. 

Table of Contents

Multicultural Orientation to Child Maltreatment Work	p. 1
Orienting Concepts	p. 2
Ecosystemic Framework	p. 2
Treating Clients Fairly	p. 8
Poverty	p. 17
Child Maltreatment	p. 20
Working with Families	p. 20
Research and Clinical Literature on Culture and Child Maltreatment	p. 26
Concluding Thoughts: Remembering the Difficulty of the Material and the Sacredness of Our Work	p. 28
Working with Immigrant Families Affected by Child Maltreatment	p. 30
Social Stressors for Immigrant Families	p. 30
Family Life, Child Behavior, and Discipline	p. 35
Immigrants and the Child Welfare System	p. 37
Domestic Violence	p. 45
Basic U.S. Immigration Definitions	p. 47
Suggestions for Improving Cultural Competence with Immigrants	p. 48
Concluding Thoughts	p. 56
Assessing Diverse Families for Child Maltreatment	p. 58
What Constitutes a Suspicion, and What's Culture Got to Do with It?	p. 60
Is It Maltreatment? Is the Child at Risk?	p. 63
Once Again: How Culture Matters	p. 79
Assessment Instruments and Structured Decision Making	p. 80
Concluding Thoughts	p. 82
Interviewing Diverse Children and Families about Maltreatment	p. 83
Before the Interview or First Session	p. 84
Building Rapport and Establishing Trust	p. 90
During the Interview	p. 92
Closure and Preparation for the Next Steps	p. 106
Concluding Thoughts	p. 107
Physical Discipline and Abuse	p. 108
Research on Group Differences	p. 110
Corporal Punishment and Physical Abuse	p. 112
Culture in Discipline and Abuse	p. 116
Child-Raising Norms	p. 118
Intervening with Families Who Use Harsh Corporal Punishment	p. 121
Supporting Nonviolent Parenting	p. 129
Prevention Programming	p. 131
Concluding Thoughts	p. 133
Child Sexual Abuse	p. 135
Shame in Child Sexual Abuse	p. 136
Cultural Aspects of Shame in Child Sexual Abuse	p. 139
Counteracting Shame	p. 156
Concluding Thoughts	p. 158
Working with Interpreters in Child Maltreatment	p. 159
When to Use an Interpreter	p. 161
Finding an Interpreter	p. 161
Informal Interpreters	p. 163
Preparing Interpreters	p. 165
Cultural Asides and Other Reasons to Pause an Interview	p. 168
The Interpreter's Role	p. 169
The Interpreted Conversation	p. 170
The Emotional Cost of Interpreting in Child Abuse Situations	p. 173
Concluding Thoughts	p. 174
Child Maltreatment Prevention and Parent Education	p. 176
Child Maltreatment Prevention	p. 177
The Parents' Best Interests	p. 187
Addressing Physical Abuse: Parent Groups and Classes	p. 188
Concluding Thoughts	p. 198
Improving the Cultural Competency of Your Child Maltreatment Agency or Organization	p. 200
Why Should Agencies Change?	p. 201
Concluding Thoughts	p. 212
A Final Wish	p. 215
References	p. 217
Index	p. 231
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