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Cultural Competence, Definition

Conceptual Framework
Culture and diversity have become important issues in the practice of child welfare. Child welfare values promote the provision of culturally-relevant services to children and their families. To assure this, all staff in a child welfare agency must strive to become culturally competent. 
Cultural competence is a complex faculty. It can be defined as the capacity to relate with persons from diverse cultures in a sensitive, respectful, and productive way. However, describing the elements of cultural competence can be more difficult. Cultural competence incorporates a complex and interrelated array of cognitive and psychological traits and behaviors. And, since it is virtually impossible for anyone to fully understand all the characteristics, nuances, and traits of all the world's cultures, achieving cultural competence requires a lifelong process of learning and development. While child welfare caseworkers may never learn all aspects of the cultures of the families we serve, we should strive to be sensitive, respectful, and adaptive in our cross-cultural communications and interactions.
Cultural competence encompasses several components:
•	Understanding that the world's cultures are social inventions of humankind, each with its own adaptive strategies for a life of meaning and worth;
•	Recognizing and understanding the effect our own culture has on our values, beliefs, thoughts, communications, and actions;
•	Understanding how our own "cultural lens" affects our world view, and can distort our interpretation of other cultures;
•	Understanding how cultural differences may affect perception, communication, and our ability to interact with people whose cultural backgrounds are different from our own;
•	Understanding how cultural "blindness" and bias contribute to racism, prejudice, and discrimination;
•	Understanding that, to achieve cultural competence, we must be "lifelong learners." We should never become complacent and believe that we know all there is to know about culture;
•	Being able to learn about other cultures from the people who know them best - the members of other cultural groups - and the willingness to be open to cultural differences;
•	Being able to transcend cultural differences to establish trusting and meaningful relationships with persons from other cultures;
•	Understanding that cultures are dynamic and continually changing, permitting continued successful adaptation to changing life circumstances; and
•	Being able to integrate cultural concepts appropriately into child welfare casework to enhance and strengthen families within their own cultural context; and to provide families with opportunities to grow and develop in ways that might promote a better adaptation to their situations and environments.
© Institute for Human Services. From Rycus, Judith S. & Hughes, Ronald C. (1998) Field Guide to Child Welfare. Washington, D.C.: Child Welfare League of America. May not be reproduced without permission.