The Experiences and Perspectives of Japanese Substitute Caregivers and Maltreated Children: A Cultural-Developmental Approach to Child Welfare Practice (Report‪)‬

This article describes the experiences and perspectives of child welfare workers and maltreated children living in Japanese state care through the theoretical lens of cultural developmental psychology (see, for example, Shweder et al., 2006). The everyday experiences of children and their caregivers are mediated through cultural beliefs about children and their development, including what is perceived to be mature or desirable within specific cultural contexts (Bamba & Haight, 200%; Shweder et al., 2006). Thus, understanding of the experiences and perspectives of children and child welfare workers within their cultural contexts is necessary for culturally competent child welfare practices. Such understanding allows professionals to step outside of that which they take for granted to consider how differently they may serve maltreated children in their own society (Bamba & Haight, 2009a; Cameron & Freymond, 2006). Examination of Japanese norms is particularly instructive, in part, because Japanese socialization practices are distinct from those in Western societies (Shimizu & LeVine, 2001; Shwalb, Nakazawa, & Shwalb, 2005). Japanese child welfare practices reflect Japanese socialization practices that are fundamentally developmental and ecological (Bamba & Haight, 2009a), emphasizing children's feelings and the development of strong emotional ties between children and their adult caregivers (for example, Azuma, 1994). Although many western scholars espouse a developmental-ecological approach to the care of maltreated children, a discontinuity exists between such scholarship and actual practice (for example, Scannapieco & Connell-Carrick, 2005); many interventions for maltreated children focus on cognitive and behavioral approaches (Barth, 2007).