Culturally competent systems of care with Latino children and families

The Latino population represents the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. As a result, child welfare agencies need to be prepared to provide culturally appropriate services to Latino families. This paper describes an evaluation of a federally funded initiative designed to train child welfare practitioners in using an existing evidence-based framework--systems of care--with Latino children and families to address the need for culturally competent, community-based services with this population. Results indicate that trained participants responded positively to the systems of care framework, increased their knowledge of systems of care, and reported positive benefits to their clients through using this framework. However, challenges to implementing systems of care were identified. Implications of these findings and the use of systems of care in child welfare are presented.