Increasing the Cultural Responsiveness of Family Group Conferencing‪.‬

Diversity has greatly enhanced the richness of our society. Yet child welfare programs have not fully examined or used this richness to create programs that are inclusive and respectful. Human services organizations need to establish culturally competent programs that recognize and use worldviews to guide practice. "The question is no longer one of 'whether' to provide culturally competent services to clients, but rather 'how' can we do it best" (Asamoah, 1996, p. 1). In a multi-cultural society best practice is moving beyond self-awareness and cultural sensitivity to a point where attention to cultural knowledge is mainstreamed and service delivery systems and treatment models are adapted to fit diverse client communities. Reflecting national trends, North Carolina struggles to address child abuse and neglect and their frequent co-occurrence with domestic violence (Edleson, 1999; North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, NC Child Advocacy Institute, 1999; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1997) while seeking permanency for children within strict federal timelines (Adoption and Sale Families Act of 1997 [P.L. 105-89]). As one response, the North Carolina Division of Social Services adopted as policy the family group conferencing service model and funded the North Carolina Family Group Conferencing (NC-FGC) Project (Pennell & Weil, 2000). The NC-FGC Project sought to enhance the cultural responsiveness of child welfare interventions across the state by introducing a partnership-building model that highlights the importance of the family's cultural knowledge for safeguarding children and other family members. The project investigators further recognized that to effect a culturally responsive program, guidance was required from diverse groups in North Carolina (Waites, Macgowan, Pennell, Weil, & Carlton-LaNey, 2000).