Implications Of Systematic Oppression For The BIPOC Community

Introduction In the United States, the child welfare system has disproportionately involved or represented Black, Indigenous, and People of Color children. With this issue being present in social services, it can raise concerns about the effectiveness, competence, and equality of care they are receiving, and the overall well-being of children and their families as well. One thing that can lock hands with addressing this issue would be trauma-informed and culturally competent approaches. This actively acknowledges the historical and current impacts of systematic oppression for the BIPOC community, and the underlying racism within the system many people do not believe exists. Racism is very much alive and well in our systems and societies today,

This system has had a long history of discrimination and negative experiences, which leads to distrust in the BIPOC communities. This can lead to further frustration out of fear and misunderstandings and can result in unnecessary removals and investigations. Area of Interest: Trauma Informed Care and Cultural Competence First, it is important to recognize the negative consequences of a child welfare worker practicing non-traumatic informed care and not portraying cultural competence. Being involved in the child welfare system, to any degree, can be a very traumatic and scary experience for children and parents as well. It does not take a child being removed from their home to face trauma in this situation, just an allegation can be enough to trigger all of those same emotions and responses. When being culturally insensitive and uninformed, it can make the trauma worse for these families. When there is a lack of this cultural sensitivity and competence, it weakens the trust between families and child welfare services. This can ultimately result in further resistance against these services, which can result in less acts of collaboration to keep children in their homes and

When a child welfare worker is culturally competent, and provides trauma-informed care, the system would be able to slowly, possibly, balance out some of the systemic racism in child welfare. Relation to Child Welfare The relation to child welfare was pretty intertwined with what was stated earlier in the area of interest section, but nonetheless there is still more to break down. When working with individuals in the BIPOC community, it is crucial to display cultural sensitivity and competence, and as well be trauma informed. If a child welfare worker is not culturally competent, it is very easy to let things that are not understood fully fly right over their heads. When not understanding one’s culture that is different than our own, it leads to mistakes and misunderstandings of the way people in the home may be treated, their roles, and communication styles. Being knowledgeable of those differences is key to not wrongfully convict a family of allegations because you do not know how their culture responds to one another in their own