Working in the field of child welfare requires staff to be able to work effectively with children and families of diverse backgrounds. The Department of Children and Family Services serves families regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation/gender expression, or socioeconomic background. This course will assist child welfare professionals in understanding the importance of engaging families through the lenses of cultural humility in order to effectively assess for the safety, permanency, and well-being of children.

This course will also provide effective strategies for working in a way that encourages mutual respect and trust and acknowledges families as experts of their lives.

Many new child welfare staff may be familiar with the concept of cultural competence however, the term cultural competence can imply that full proficiency in another culture is an achievable goal and runs the risk of suggesting those who share culture have identical experiences.

On the other hand, cultural humility assumes that others are experts in their own culture, culture is multifaceted, there are structural factors that influence people differently, and people hold multiple cultural and social identities.

Course Objective:

At the completion of this course, participants will be able to:

- Define, self-reflect and demonstrate cultural humility, ensuring personal biases are not impacting engagement and assessment.