- Email: [email protected]
Issues in program planning and evaluation with immigrant children and families involved in the child welfare system
Evaluation and Program Planning 33 (2010) 278–280
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Evaluation and Program Planning journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/evalprogplan
Editorial
Issues in program planning and evaluation with immigrant children and families involved in the child welfare system
This special issue addresses the current trend of globalization and demographic changes and its impact on child welfare program planning and evaluation. Children in immigrant families form the fastest growing segment of the U.S. child population and if current demographic trends persist, children of immigrants will represent at least one-quarter of all U.S. children by 2010 (Urban Institute, 2006). At least 1 child in 10 in the United States lives in a mixed status family, where one or more family members do not share the same immigration or citizenship status (Fix, Zimmerman, & Passel, 2001). Although the majority of children of immigrants live in the country’s six largest states – California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey – the number of children with immigrant parents more than doubled in most other states between 1990 and 2006 (Fortuny, Capps, Simms, & Chaudry, 2009). Child welfare practice in the United States is based on the guiding principles of permanency, safety, and well-being of children. The development of child welfare polices and practices have primarily focused on U.S.-born populations and previous discussions on cultural aspects have primarily focused on U.S.born ethnic groups (e.g., African American, Asian American). Similarly, the evaluation of child welfare outcomes has primarily been approached from a nationalistic perspective, with the achievement of positive outcomes guided by predominant U.S. values and norms of child and family well-being. Given the rapid growth of the immigrant population in the United States, it is important to understand the complexity of issues faced by immigrant children and families, and to consider those issues when planning for services and evaluating outcomes. For many immigrant families, the immigration experience denotes a significant life crisis. For undocumented immigrants, as well as for asylum seekers and refugees, the initial act of leaving one’s own country and entering the United States can be dangerous, with many immigrants experiencing violence, robbery, and sexual assault during the immigration process (Solis, 2003). For many families, immigration may occur in several phases, resulting in children who are separated from parents and other siblings for extended periods (Garcia, 2001). Once in the new country, families continue to experience stress resulting from language barriers, unfamiliar customs, loss of routine, and isolation. Undocumented immigrants experience additional stress, as they live with ongoing fear of discovery and deportation. These immigrants may have difficulty obtaining employment, and are vulnerable to many forms of exploitation. Additional pressures resulting from acculturation can lead to a variety of strains and difficulties on family systems, as parents and children experience 0149-7189/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2009.10.001
changing cultural contexts along with the loss of previously established support systems (Finno, Vidal de Haymes, & Mindell, 2006; Rumbaut, 1999). In addition to addressing the impact of immigration and acculturation, the development and evaluation of programs that target immigrant children and families requires an understanding of the cultural values and traditions of those families and how those values and traditions may impact service delivery and intervention. In child welfare settings, understanding the influence of culture is critical to addressing issues of child maltreatment, as research indicates that both child-rearing practices and ideologies are influenced by and vary across cultures (Korbin & Spilsbury, 1999; Roer-Strier, 2001). Cultural values shape the ways in which families view their problems, accept responsibility, and respond to interventions. If an understanding of culture is not involved in the development of programs that serve immigrant children and families, programs may not meet the needs of participants and intended outcomes may not be met. Further, evaluations that impose ideas from the majority culture can be restricted by a number of factors – conceptual inequality, disparate values, differences in the meaning and manifestation of emotions – each of which can lead to poor or limited data, resulting in an ineffective evaluation. Effective evaluation of programs that target immigrant children and families requires both program evaluation competence and cultural competence. Within the field of child welfare, the development and evaluation of programs requires an understanding of the impact that immigration and acculturation can have on immigrant children and families, and how those experiences may contribute to their involvement in the child welfare system. Cultural values and expectations must be understood and incorporated into the development and evaluation of programs to ensure programs have meaningful outcomes. Further, evaluators and program planners must understand how issues concerning immigration status can affect program outcomes, as well as the larger implications that immigration status has on utilization of services. The articles in this issue are intended to further understanding of these issues. In the first article, Beyond Status: Seeing the Whole Child, Angela Morrison and David Thronson from the Williams S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas discuss the impact of immigration law on the options available for immigrant children and families involved in the child welfare system. In particular, they cite the ways in which immigration law undermines family unity by failing to recognize the best interests of the child, a
Editorial / Evaluation and Program Planning 33 (2010) 278–280
universally recognized concept in domestic and international child welfare law. The article uses the federal district court case, Mendoza v. Miranda, as an example of how a court’s reaction to family members’ immigration status can impact outcomes. Double Risk: Immigrant Mothers, Domestic Violence and Public Child Welfare Services in New York City uses a case study and results of focus group interviews to examine the experiences of Mexican immigrant mothers who become involved with public child welfare services because of domestic violence. Authored by Ilze Earner, Hunter College School of Social Work, the paper illustrates the double risk faced by immigrant mothers—first at the hands of their abusing partners and then by the government agencies and service providers who intervene due to their lack of understanding of the cultural and immigration issues that can affect the outcomes of those cases. These include the denial of services based on immigration status, separation from family members upon whom they are economically dependent, and the loss of their children for being perceived as failing to adequately protect them. The article explores the complex ways in which immigration status can affect program outcomes and the implications to immigrant mothers when this issue is not adequately understood and addressed. In Sibling Caretaking in Immigrant Families: Understanding Cultural Practices to Inform Child Welfare and Evaluation, Hafford describes the traditional, culturally valued practice of older children providing direct care for younger siblings in immigrant families and its implications for child welfare program planning and evaluation. Sibling caretaking involves the delegation of parental authority and supervision to elder children to support the provision of care for younger siblings. From a child welfare perspective, this practice raises a number of concerns since leaving children in the care of older siblings may result in allegations of child neglect through inadequate supervision. The purpose of the article is to familiarize program planners and evaluators with the cross-cultural practice of sibling caretaking to inform the development and evaluation of culturally sensitive interventions related to family functioning and social support. In Adapting Systems of Care for Child Welfare Practice with Immigrant Latino Children and Families, Dettlaff and Rycraft discuss the growth of the immigrant Latino population and the need for providing evidence-based and community-based services that are culturally appropriate. They provide an example of applying an existing evidence-based framework – systems of care – to practice with immigrant Latino children and families and adapting this framework to respond to their unique needs. They describe a training curriculum designed to train child welfare caseworkers in Texas on the utilization of systems of care with immigrant Latino families and provide recommendations for program planners and evaluators on the application of this model to child welfare settings. In Child Human Trafficking Victims: Challenges for the Child Welfare System, Fong and Berger Cardoso bring to light the growing population of sexually exploited and trafficked children within the child welfare system. They differentiate the needs and problems between victims of human trafficking and victims of child sexual abuse and child prostitution, along with a review and critique of current treatment practices. The authors argue that standard treatment approaches for child sexual abuse may not respond to the unique needs of this population, and offer recommendations for identifying successful program components and adapting these practices to existing systems. In Factors Associated with Service Use Among Immigrants in the Child Welfare System, Rajendran and Chemtob provide insight into the use of family support services by immigrant families. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), the authors provide evidence that family support service use among immigrants is multi-determined by demographic,
279
individual, and organizational factors, suggesting that strategies and policies to promote service use need to take all of these factors into consideration. Their research also shows an important link between caseworkers’ training in cultural competence and immigrant families’ use of services. Finally, in Challenges to Parenting in a New Culture: Implications for Child and Family Welfare Services, Lewig, Arney, and Salveron present findings from a research study examining the increasing numbers of refugee families entering Australia who come to the attention of the Australian child protection system. The authors describe how a large number of these families come from African and Middle Eastern countries and share common experiences of trauma, dislocation, and loss. These families may have experienced genocide, war, and torture and present significant challenges to child welfare service planners to provide culturally competent family intervention. The authors use their findings to discuss the critical need for culturally competent services when working with refugee and immigrant children and families and identify culturally appropriate strategies for intervention. The guest co-editors of this special issue are founding board members of the Migration and Child Welfare National Network (MCWNN), a national coalition of child welfare agencies and organizations focused on the intersection of immigration and child welfare. MCWNN is a free membership organization and the fiscal and program agent is the American Humane Association (http:// www.americanhumane.org/migration). The co-editors would like to acknowledge and thank the contributing authors and reviewers, as well as the publisher for their participation in the development of this special issue. References Finno, M., Vidal de Haymes, M., & Mindell, R. (2006). Risk of affective disorders in the migration and acculturation experience of Mexican Americans. Protecting Children, 21(2), 22–35. Fix, M., Zimmerman, W., & Passel, J. (2001). The integration of immigrant families in the United States. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. Fortuny, K., Capps, R., Simms, M., & Chaudry, A. (2009). Children of immigrants: National and state characteristics. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. Garcia, E. C. (2001). Parenting in Mexican American families. In N. Boyd Webb (Ed.), Culturally diverse parent–child and family relationships: A guide for social workers and other practitioners (pp. 157–180). New York: Columbia University Press. Korbin, J., & Spilsbury, J. (1999). Cultural competence and child neglect. In H. Dubowitz (Ed.), Neglected children (pp. 69–88). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Roer-Strier, D. (2001). Reducing risk for children in changing cultural contexts: Recommendations for intervention and training. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 231– 248. Rumbaut, R. G. (1999). Assimilation and its discontents: Ironies and paradoxes. In J. DeWind, C. Hirschman, & P. Kainitz (Eds.), Handbook of international migration: The American experience (pp. 172–195). New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Solis, J. (2003). Re-thinking illegality as a violence against, not by Mexican immigrants, children, and youth. Journal of Social Issues, 59, 15–31. Urban Institute. (2006). Children of immigrants: Facts and figures. Washington, DC: Author.
Alan J. Dettlaff, PhD, MSW, is Assistant Professor in the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago. His practice experience includes 6 years as a practitioner and administrator in public child welfare, where he specialized in investigations of physical and sexual abuse. Dr. Dettlaff’s research interests focus on improving outcomes for children of color in the child welfare system through the elimination of disproportionality and disparities. Specifically, Dr. Dettlaff is actively involved in research addressing the disproportionate overrepresentation of African American children in the child welfare system and identifying and understanding the needs of immigrant Latino children who come to the attention of this system. In 2007, Dr. Dettlaff co-edited a special issue of the journal Protecting Children on emerging issues at the intersection of immigration and child welfare. Dr. Dettlaff is also Principal Investigator of the Jane Addams Child Welfare Traineeship Project, which provides advanced training and financial assistance to students pursuing careers in child welfare.
Yali Lincroft, MBA, has over 15 years experience as a program and policy consultant working on issues affecting vulnerable children and families. She is the author of ‘‘Undercounted, Underserved,’’ a public policy report on immigrants in the child welfare system published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. She has recently published A Toolkit for Social Workers Working with Immigrant Families for the Migration and Child Welfare National Network/American Humane Association and is currently working on A Toolkit
280
Editorial / Evaluation and Program Planning 33 (2010) 278–280
for Social Worker Working with Children of Incarcerated Parents published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Her areas of program and policy expertise include child welfare/foster care, children’s mental health, children of incarcerated parents, and childcare.
Alan J. Dettlaff a,* Yali Lincroftb a University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work, 1040 W. Harrison (MC 309), Chicago, IL 60607, United States b Annie E. Casey Foundation
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 312 996 0044; fax: +1 312 996 2770 E-mail address: [email protected] (Alan J. Dettlaff)
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Evaluation and Program Planning journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/evalprogplan
Editorial
Issues in program planning and evaluation with immigrant children and families involved in the child welfare system
This special issue addresses the current trend of globalization and demographic changes and its impact on child welfare program planning and evaluation. Children in immigrant families form the fastest growing segment of the U.S. child population and if current demographic trends persist, children of immigrants will represent at least one-quarter of all U.S. children by 2010 (Urban Institute, 2006). At least 1 child in 10 in the United States lives in a mixed status family, where one or more family members do not share the same immigration or citizenship status (Fix, Zimmerman, & Passel, 2001). Although the majority of children of immigrants live in the country’s six largest states – California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey – the number of children with immigrant parents more than doubled in most other states between 1990 and 2006 (Fortuny, Capps, Simms, & Chaudry, 2009). Child welfare practice in the United States is based on the guiding principles of permanency, safety, and well-being of children. The development of child welfare polices and practices have primarily focused on U.S.-born populations and previous discussions on cultural aspects have primarily focused on U.S.born ethnic groups (e.g., African American, Asian American). Similarly, the evaluation of child welfare outcomes has primarily been approached from a nationalistic perspective, with the achievement of positive outcomes guided by predominant U.S. values and norms of child and family well-being. Given the rapid growth of the immigrant population in the United States, it is important to understand the complexity of issues faced by immigrant children and families, and to consider those issues when planning for services and evaluating outcomes. For many immigrant families, the immigration experience denotes a significant life crisis. For undocumented immigrants, as well as for asylum seekers and refugees, the initial act of leaving one’s own country and entering the United States can be dangerous, with many immigrants experiencing violence, robbery, and sexual assault during the immigration process (Solis, 2003). For many families, immigration may occur in several phases, resulting in children who are separated from parents and other siblings for extended periods (Garcia, 2001). Once in the new country, families continue to experience stress resulting from language barriers, unfamiliar customs, loss of routine, and isolation. Undocumented immigrants experience additional stress, as they live with ongoing fear of discovery and deportation. These immigrants may have difficulty obtaining employment, and are vulnerable to many forms of exploitation. Additional pressures resulting from acculturation can lead to a variety of strains and difficulties on family systems, as parents and children experience 0149-7189/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2009.10.001
changing cultural contexts along with the loss of previously established support systems (Finno, Vidal de Haymes, & Mindell, 2006; Rumbaut, 1999). In addition to addressing the impact of immigration and acculturation, the development and evaluation of programs that target immigrant children and families requires an understanding of the cultural values and traditions of those families and how those values and traditions may impact service delivery and intervention. In child welfare settings, understanding the influence of culture is critical to addressing issues of child maltreatment, as research indicates that both child-rearing practices and ideologies are influenced by and vary across cultures (Korbin & Spilsbury, 1999; Roer-Strier, 2001). Cultural values shape the ways in which families view their problems, accept responsibility, and respond to interventions. If an understanding of culture is not involved in the development of programs that serve immigrant children and families, programs may not meet the needs of participants and intended outcomes may not be met. Further, evaluations that impose ideas from the majority culture can be restricted by a number of factors – conceptual inequality, disparate values, differences in the meaning and manifestation of emotions – each of which can lead to poor or limited data, resulting in an ineffective evaluation. Effective evaluation of programs that target immigrant children and families requires both program evaluation competence and cultural competence. Within the field of child welfare, the development and evaluation of programs requires an understanding of the impact that immigration and acculturation can have on immigrant children and families, and how those experiences may contribute to their involvement in the child welfare system. Cultural values and expectations must be understood and incorporated into the development and evaluation of programs to ensure programs have meaningful outcomes. Further, evaluators and program planners must understand how issues concerning immigration status can affect program outcomes, as well as the larger implications that immigration status has on utilization of services. The articles in this issue are intended to further understanding of these issues. In the first article, Beyond Status: Seeing the Whole Child, Angela Morrison and David Thronson from the Williams S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas discuss the impact of immigration law on the options available for immigrant children and families involved in the child welfare system. In particular, they cite the ways in which immigration law undermines family unity by failing to recognize the best interests of the child, a
Editorial / Evaluation and Program Planning 33 (2010) 278–280
universally recognized concept in domestic and international child welfare law. The article uses the federal district court case, Mendoza v. Miranda, as an example of how a court’s reaction to family members’ immigration status can impact outcomes. Double Risk: Immigrant Mothers, Domestic Violence and Public Child Welfare Services in New York City uses a case study and results of focus group interviews to examine the experiences of Mexican immigrant mothers who become involved with public child welfare services because of domestic violence. Authored by Ilze Earner, Hunter College School of Social Work, the paper illustrates the double risk faced by immigrant mothers—first at the hands of their abusing partners and then by the government agencies and service providers who intervene due to their lack of understanding of the cultural and immigration issues that can affect the outcomes of those cases. These include the denial of services based on immigration status, separation from family members upon whom they are economically dependent, and the loss of their children for being perceived as failing to adequately protect them. The article explores the complex ways in which immigration status can affect program outcomes and the implications to immigrant mothers when this issue is not adequately understood and addressed. In Sibling Caretaking in Immigrant Families: Understanding Cultural Practices to Inform Child Welfare and Evaluation, Hafford describes the traditional, culturally valued practice of older children providing direct care for younger siblings in immigrant families and its implications for child welfare program planning and evaluation. Sibling caretaking involves the delegation of parental authority and supervision to elder children to support the provision of care for younger siblings. From a child welfare perspective, this practice raises a number of concerns since leaving children in the care of older siblings may result in allegations of child neglect through inadequate supervision. The purpose of the article is to familiarize program planners and evaluators with the cross-cultural practice of sibling caretaking to inform the development and evaluation of culturally sensitive interventions related to family functioning and social support. In Adapting Systems of Care for Child Welfare Practice with Immigrant Latino Children and Families, Dettlaff and Rycraft discuss the growth of the immigrant Latino population and the need for providing evidence-based and community-based services that are culturally appropriate. They provide an example of applying an existing evidence-based framework – systems of care – to practice with immigrant Latino children and families and adapting this framework to respond to their unique needs. They describe a training curriculum designed to train child welfare caseworkers in Texas on the utilization of systems of care with immigrant Latino families and provide recommendations for program planners and evaluators on the application of this model to child welfare settings. In Child Human Trafficking Victims: Challenges for the Child Welfare System, Fong and Berger Cardoso bring to light the growing population of sexually exploited and trafficked children within the child welfare system. They differentiate the needs and problems between victims of human trafficking and victims of child sexual abuse and child prostitution, along with a review and critique of current treatment practices. The authors argue that standard treatment approaches for child sexual abuse may not respond to the unique needs of this population, and offer recommendations for identifying successful program components and adapting these practices to existing systems. In Factors Associated with Service Use Among Immigrants in the Child Welfare System, Rajendran and Chemtob provide insight into the use of family support services by immigrant families. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), the authors provide evidence that family support service use among immigrants is multi-determined by demographic,
279
individual, and organizational factors, suggesting that strategies and policies to promote service use need to take all of these factors into consideration. Their research also shows an important link between caseworkers’ training in cultural competence and immigrant families’ use of services. Finally, in Challenges to Parenting in a New Culture: Implications for Child and Family Welfare Services, Lewig, Arney, and Salveron present findings from a research study examining the increasing numbers of refugee families entering Australia who come to the attention of the Australian child protection system. The authors describe how a large number of these families come from African and Middle Eastern countries and share common experiences of trauma, dislocation, and loss. These families may have experienced genocide, war, and torture and present significant challenges to child welfare service planners to provide culturally competent family intervention. The authors use their findings to discuss the critical need for culturally competent services when working with refugee and immigrant children and families and identify culturally appropriate strategies for intervention. The guest co-editors of this special issue are founding board members of the Migration and Child Welfare National Network (MCWNN), a national coalition of child welfare agencies and organizations focused on the intersection of immigration and child welfare. MCWNN is a free membership organization and the fiscal and program agent is the American Humane Association (http:// www.americanhumane.org/migration). The co-editors would like to acknowledge and thank the contributing authors and reviewers, as well as the publisher for their participation in the development of this special issue. References Finno, M., Vidal de Haymes, M., & Mindell, R. (2006). Risk of affective disorders in the migration and acculturation experience of Mexican Americans. Protecting Children, 21(2), 22–35. Fix, M., Zimmerman, W., & Passel, J. (2001). The integration of immigrant families in the United States. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. Fortuny, K., Capps, R., Simms, M., & Chaudry, A. (2009). Children of immigrants: National and state characteristics. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. Garcia, E. C. (2001). Parenting in Mexican American families. In N. Boyd Webb (Ed.), Culturally diverse parent–child and family relationships: A guide for social workers and other practitioners (pp. 157–180). New York: Columbia University Press. Korbin, J., & Spilsbury, J. (1999). Cultural competence and child neglect. In H. Dubowitz (Ed.), Neglected children (pp. 69–88). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Roer-Strier, D. (2001). Reducing risk for children in changing cultural contexts: Recommendations for intervention and training. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 231– 248. Rumbaut, R. G. (1999). Assimilation and its discontents: Ironies and paradoxes. In J. DeWind, C. Hirschman, & P. Kainitz (Eds.), Handbook of international migration: The American experience (pp. 172–195). New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Solis, J. (2003). Re-thinking illegality as a violence against, not by Mexican immigrants, children, and youth. Journal of Social Issues, 59, 15–31. Urban Institute. (2006). Children of immigrants: Facts and figures. Washington, DC: Author.
Alan J. Dettlaff, PhD, MSW, is Assistant Professor in the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago. His practice experience includes 6 years as a practitioner and administrator in public child welfare, where he specialized in investigations of physical and sexual abuse. Dr. Dettlaff’s research interests focus on improving outcomes for children of color in the child welfare system through the elimination of disproportionality and disparities. Specifically, Dr. Dettlaff is actively involved in research addressing the disproportionate overrepresentation of African American children in the child welfare system and identifying and understanding the needs of immigrant Latino children who come to the attention of this system. In 2007, Dr. Dettlaff co-edited a special issue of the journal Protecting Children on emerging issues at the intersection of immigration and child welfare. Dr. Dettlaff is also Principal Investigator of the Jane Addams Child Welfare Traineeship Project, which provides advanced training and financial assistance to students pursuing careers in child welfare.
Yali Lincroft, MBA, has over 15 years experience as a program and policy consultant working on issues affecting vulnerable children and families. She is the author of ‘‘Undercounted, Underserved,’’ a public policy report on immigrants in the child welfare system published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. She has recently published A Toolkit for Social Workers Working with Immigrant Families for the Migration and Child Welfare National Network/American Humane Association and is currently working on A Toolkit
280
Editorial / Evaluation and Program Planning 33 (2010) 278–280
for Social Worker Working with Children of Incarcerated Parents published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Her areas of program and policy expertise include child welfare/foster care, children’s mental health, children of incarcerated parents, and childcare.
Alan J. Dettlaff a,* Yali Lincroftb a University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work, 1040 W. Harrison (MC 309), Chicago, IL 60607, United States b Annie E. Casey Foundation
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 312 996 0044; fax: +1 312 996 2770 E-mail address: [email protected] (Alan J. Dettlaff)