Cultural Competence in Child Welfare: What Is It? How Do We Achieve It? What Happens Without It?

The overrepresentation of minority children in the child welfare system is well-documented. Providing culturally relevant and effective medical and psychosocial services in the field, while an enduring goal, still remains elusive. This article asserts that before significant progress toward achieving these goals can be made, what constitutes cultural competence must be elucidated. A Cultural Competence Attainment Model, comprising a grounded knowledge base, affective dimensions, and cumulative skill proficiency, is described for use by child welfare practitioners. The effects of cultural incompetence are also addressed.