Foster Parent Training

1. Cultural Competence
Transracial Placement

2. Are we all from the same?
Of course not…

3. We are All Equal in Christ
Leviticus 19:18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of
your people that love your neighbor as yourself
Leviticus 19:34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of
your native-born love him as yourself for you were
aliens in Egypt
Romans 3:29 Is the God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of
Gentiles to? Yes, of Gentiles too.
Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are
ears together with Israel members together of one body
and shares together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

4. What is Culture?
• A group’s beliefs norms institutions
and communication patterns.
• A learned way of living shared by a
group of people.

5. What are some characteristics that
define or make up a culture?
• Language
• Religion
• Music
• Art
• Traditions
• Holidays
• Education
• Politics
• Economics
• Recreation &
Leisure Activities
• Others?

6. Cultural Diversity
• It is important to recognize that cultural
differences exist and to develop an
understanding and acceptance of different
cultural norms.
• We must be able to understand the value of
local, national and global contributions of all
cultures in our society.

7. Cultural Similarity
• Religion
• Spirituality
• Values
• Games
• Music
• Rites of Passage
• Education
• Leadership
• Family Units
• Family Traditions

8. Cultural Competence
Cultural Competence can be described as an
ability to interact effectively with people of
different cultures. Cultural competence
comprises four components.

9. Cultural Competence
• Awareness - Awareness is consciousness of one’s personal
reactions to people who are different. (example: a police officer
who recognizes that he profiles people who look like they are
from Mexico as illegal aliens has cultural awareness of his
reactions to this group of people.)
• Attitude - Participants should carefully examine their own
beliefs and values about cultural differences.

10. Cultural Competence
• Knowledge - Our values and beliefs about equality may be
inconsistent with our behaviors, and we may not be aware of it.
• Skills - The skills component focuses on practicing cultural
competence to perfection. Communication is the fundamental
tool by which people interact in organizations. This includes
gestures and other non-verbal communication that tend to vary
from culture to culture.

11. Cultural Competence
Developing cultural competence results in an
ability to understand, communicate with and
effectively interact with people across cultures.

12. Cultural Heritage
The practices, representations, expressions, knowledge,
skills - as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and
cultural spaces associated to - that communities groups
and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their
cultural heritage.

13. Cultural Heritage
This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from
generation to generation, is constantly recreated by
communities and groups in response to their
environment, their interaction with nature and their
history, and provides them with the sense of identity and
continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity
and human creativity.

14. Cultural Acculturation
An exchange of cultural features that results when
groups come into continuous first-hand contact; the
original cultural patterns of either or both groups
may be altered, but the groups remain distinct.
All cultures, with very few exceptions, have been
influenced by foreign cultures. Ideas and arts have
been borrowed and developed.

15. Stereotype
A commonly held public belief about specific social
groups or types of individuals. The concepts of
stereotypes and prejudice are often confused with
many other different meanings.

16. Stereotype
Stereotypes are standardized in simplified conceptions
of groups based on some prior assumptions. Generally
speaking, stereotypes are not based on objective truth
but rather subjective and sometimes unverifiable
content matter.

17. A Prejudice is a prejudgment or a preconceived
belief, opinion, or judgement made without
ascertaining the facts of the case.
Prejudice

18. Prejudice
The word prejudice is most commonly used to refer to a
preconceived judgement toward a people or a person because
of race, social class, gender, ethnicity, age, disability, political
beliefs, religion, sexual orientation or other personal
characteristics. It also means our priority beliefs (without
knowledge of the facts) and may include any unreasonable
attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence.
Although positive and negative prejudice both exist, when
use negatively, prejudice implies fear and antipathy toward
such a race.

19. • Cognitive Prejudice refers to what people believe to be true.
• Affective Prejudice refers to what people like and dislike for
example, and attitudes toward members of particular classes
such as race, ethnicity, national origin, or creed.
• Behavioral Prejudice refers to how people are inclined to
behave. It is regarded as an attitude because people do not act
on their feelings. An example of cognitive prejudice baby
found an expression of what should be done if the opportunity
presents itself.
Prejudice

20. Prejudice
These three types of prejudice are correlated, but
all need not be present in a particular individual.
Someone may believe that a particular group
possesses low levels of intelligence, but harbor
no ill feelings towards that group. Group may be
disliked because of intense competition for jobs,
but still recognize no differences between groups.

21. Discrimination
Discrimination is a behavior (an action),
with reference to unequal treatment of
people because they are members of a
particular group.
Three categories of discrimination are:

22. Discrimination
Personal / Individual Discrimination is directed
toward a specific individual and refers to any act
that leads to unequal treatment because of
individuals real or perceived group membership.

23. Discrimination
Legal Discrimination refers to “unequal treatment, on the
grounds of group membership, that is upheld by law.”
Apartheid is an example of legal discrimination against
black South Africans, as are also various post-Civil War
laws in the Southern United States that legally
disadvantaged African-Americans, with respect to property
rights, employment rights, permission to pass a white
residential area and exercise of constitutional rights.

24. Discrimination
Institutional Discrimination refers to unequal treatment
that is entrenched in basic social institutions resulting in
advantaging one group over another. The Indian caste
system and European feudal system are historical examples
of institutional discrimination. Present-day policies seen as
institutional discrimination are Islamic law moral codes
concerning the status of women in Saudi Arabia.

25. Discrimination
As with prejudice generally, these three types of
discrimination are correlated and may be found to
varying degrees in individuals and society at large.
Many forms of discrimination based upon prejudice
are outwardly acceptable in most societies.

26. Ethnic Group / Ethnicity
An ethnic group is a group of people whose
members identify with each other, through a
common heritage that is real or assumed.

27. Ethnic Group / Ethnicity
This shared heritage may be based upon
believed or acknowledged common ancestry,
history, kinship, religion, language, shared
territory, nationality or physical appearance.
Members of an ethnic group are conscious of
belonging to an ethnic group; moreover ethnic
identity is further marked by the recognition
from others of a group's distinctiveness.

28. Race
Race is a grouping of people based
on biological similarities, such as
facial features or color.

29. Assimilation
Assimilation is a process of integration where
members of an ethno-cultural community,
such as immigrants or ethnic minorities, are
“absorbed” into another, larger community.
It implies the loss of the characteristics of the
absorbed group, such as language, customs,
ethnicity and self-identity.

30. We all have preconceived notions about how
things work, or how we think they are supposed to
work. We've come too many of these conclusions
through our own personal experiences and can be
easily lulled into complacency in assessing who
others are and what they may need from us.

31. When a child comes into our care we must collect
information through our interactions to be able to
understand what services they need (including
cultural needs that may be a challenge for
caregivers to provide), where their strengths lie,
and what their challenges or deficits may be.

32. Transracial Placement
Howard M. Metzenbaum Multiethnic
Placement Act of 1994 (MEPA)
Prohibits an agency or entity that receives
federal assistance and is involved in adoptive
or foster care placement from delaying or
denying the placement of a child on the basis
of the race, color or national origin of the
adoptive or foster parent or the child involved.

33. Transracial Placement
Interethnic Adoption Provisions (IEP), 1996
Forbids agencies from denying or delaying
placement of a child for adoption solely on the
basis of race or national origin, stating that
“discrimination is not to be tolerated.”

34. Transracial Placement
Specific Intentions of MEPA & IEP
• Decrease the length of time that children want to be
adopted
• Facilitate the recruitment and retention of foster
adoptive parents who can meet the distinctive needs of
children awaiting placement
• To eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color
or national origin of the child or the prospective parent

35. Perspectives on Transracial Adoption
Adoption is a response to a life crisis. It is
a turning point, separating everything that
comes before from what happens after. A
decision that forces us to confront the most
basic goals of life, it foster's change and
growth for all who are touched by it.

36. Perspectives on Transracial Adoption
Race Matters. When parents are raising a
child of a race different from their own, the
parents lack of experience with the race of
the child’s birth heritage creates challenges
for all members of the family.

37. Adoptive families have the desire and capacity to
help themselves. Asking for help is not an expression
of weakness or defeat, but a show of strength, even
though you may not be feeling particularly strong at
the moment. The alternative, to become passive and
not to reach out to find a useful action, is a response
that will not serve your family. Our hope for this book
is to support your positive desire to stretch as far as
you can for your family.
Perspectives on Transracial Adoption

38. Transracial adoption issues are not easy or
comfortable subjects to discuss. Support from well-
meaning friends and family is often not enough. This
book exists to serve the special needs of adoptive parents
of children of color by providing tools to explore the
issues and consider suggestions toward resolution.
Breaking through the isolation and discovering how
others handle similar situations can be a great relief.
Perspectives on Transracial Adoption

39. Self-Assessment
Personality Issues
Each of us is “hardwired” in particular ways. That means
we are comfortable in certain types of circumstances and
are likely to make life choices that reflect our particular
personality traits. Although personality traits are not usually
changeable, understanding who you are can enable you to
decide whether your temperament will lend itself
comfortably to the issues you and your family will face.

40. Self-Assessment
Personality Issues
Being prepared for and able to cope with your own
emotions about the issues transracial adoption raises makes
a great difference. Think about whether or not these are
challenges for you.
• Attracting attention
• Seeking help
• Facing complexity
• Valuing multiple points of view

41. Self-Assessment
Attitude
Acknowledging your own racism and “adoptism” is
painful. If you think that racism is lessening, you probably
aren't dealing with it much. If you think that most people
feel adoption is a good thing, you probably haven’t yet had
the opportunity to experience people’s “special” reactions
to special families. If you haven’t had much experience
with these issues, your antennae are probably not yet well-
developed.

42. Self-Assessment
Lifestyle
Day-to-day living, what we do, what we see, where we go.
This is how and where children learn the most important
lessons of their lives. More than our words, and regardless
of our intentions, children take our actions to heart. If there
are many people of color important to your life, you will
deliver the message that people of color are important and
valued. If your child is the only one, how will you avoid the
message that she is an exception to her race, that there is
something wrong with her ethnicity?

43. Self-Assessment
Knowledge
Schools teachers mostly European-based history and
knowledge. Society teaches us to view the world from the
point of view of White America, point of view that
sometimes includes immigrant bashing or minority bashing
to justify our history and current actions. Without positive
history in a realistic understanding of current race-based
realities in society, children will think that white is better
and that people of color have accomplished little in their
world.

44. A Transracially-Adopted
Child’s Bill of Rights
• Every child is entitled to love and full membership
in their family.
• Every child is entitled to have their culture
embraced and valued.
• Every child is entitled to parents who know that
this is a race-conscious society.

45. A Transracially-Adopted
Child’s Bill of Rights
• Every child is entitled to parents who know that the
child will experience life differently than they do.
• Every child is entitled to parents who are not
looking to “save” them or improve the world.
• Every child is entitled to parents who know that
being in a family doesn’t depend on “matching.”

46. A Transracially-Adopted
Child’s Bill of Rights
• Every child is entitled to parents who know that
transracial adoption changes the family forever.
• Every child is entitled to be accepted by extended
family members.
• Every child is entitled to parents who know that if
they are white, they benefit from racism.

47. A Transracially-Adopted
Child’s Bill of Rights
• Every child is entitled to parents who know they
can’t transmit the child’s birth culture if it is not
their own.
• Every child is entitled to have items at home that
are made for and by people of their race.
• Every child is entitled to opportunities to make
friends with people of their own race or ethnicity.

48. A Transracially-Adopted
Child’s Bill of Rights
• Every child is entitled to daily opportunities of
positive experiences with their birth culture.
• Every child is entitled to build racial pride within
their own home, school and neighborhood.
• Every child is entitled to have many opportunities
to connect with adults of their own race.

49. A Transracially-Adopted
Child’s Bill of Rights
• Every child is entitled to parents who accept,
understand and empathize with their culture.
• Every child is entitled to learn survival, problem-
solving and coping skills in a context of racial
pride.

50. A Transracially-Adopted
Child’s Bill of Rights
• Every child is entitled to take pride in the
development of a dual identity and a
multicultural/multiracial perspective on life.
• Every child is entitled to find his multiculturism to
be an asset and to conclude, “I’ve got the best of
both worlds.”

51. Transracial family members can…
• Take apparent contradictions in stride
• Accept our shifts in position without
getting defensive
• Look at situations from more than one
point of view
• Develop creative solutions to problems

52. Transracial family members can…
• Be more effective in working
cooperatively
• Put more effort into the construction of
self than the presentation of self
• Personalize and customize meanings
rather than accept somebody else’s
scripts

53. Transracial family members can…
• Judge themselves by measuring the
overall self, rather than by assessing a
particular ability
• Value flexibility
• Be guided more by self-evaluation than
by the opinion of others

54. Transracial family members can…
• Make choices that require negotiation
and cooperation
• Act effectively within a group setting

55. You have completed this training module.
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