ABSTRACT
The book is primarily intended for use on further and undergraduate level courses of training for social care students and their supervisors. The materials included are intended to promote an understanding of the complexities and diversities of African family life and to stimulate creative thinking about how social care practitioners can develop meaningful relationships and engage effectively with African families they encounter within work contexts. This is increasing in importance because the numbers of black African people resident in the UK and whose origins are in Africa south of the Sahara are on the increase, due in part to chronic economic dislocations in some of the former British colonies, and it is therefore likely that social care practitioners will come into contact with African families, among which, some will be asylum seekers and/or refugees. For asylum seekers and refugees, it is reported that some social workers do express concerns and at times question their ability to deal satisfactorily with culturally complex cases (Okitikpi and Aymer 2003). Apart from asylum seekers and/or refugees, it has been reported that some white workers do not possess the skills and experience to work effectively with black and minority ethnic families, and therefore hesitated in making intervention decisions; and that some white managers were unable to provide direction to black and minority ethnic workers (Butt 2006). Additionally, the publicity that resulted from the death of Victoria Climbie and police investigations into possible ritual assaults and killings within African communities suggests the need to single out African families, as a group, for attention, while acknowledging that this group is likely to share similar experiences of discrimination and disadvantage when using social care services. It is also necessary and significant to acknowledge that, while important, these publicized cases of child abuse within the African community do not represent the reality of the experience of most African families. There are other realities of relevance and importance and worthy of note. Some of these include, for example, the daily struggles to combine study, work and managing family life. The changing family composition through interracial unions brings up the realities around dual heritage issues, and the lived experience of African children in local authority care.
