Culturally Competent Public Child Welfare Practice (SW 360K Child Abuse and Neglect)

This text presents a model of practice that stems from the goodness-of-fit between the child's needs (physical, developmental, social-emotional) and the parent's ability to adequately meet those needs according to the prevailing norms of society. Samantrai integrates policy, human behavior theories, issues in practice, skills of practice, multiculturalism, child abuse and neglect, and she develops and refines these concepts into the skills specifically needed by those working in public child welfare.

Krishna Samantrai is associate professor at Smith College for Social Work. Prior to moving to Smith in 1997, she was professor at California State University, Sacramento, where she developed the practice model presented in this book. She is the author of two previous books, PREVENTION IN CHILD WELFARE: STATES' RESPONSE TO FEDERAL MANDATE (Garland Publishing, 1993) and INTERVIEWING IN HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (Nelson-Hall, 1996, reprinted, 1999; now available from Brooks/Cole). She has also authored several articles on the subject of practice and policy in child welfare.