Child Welfare

The coping mechanisms of even the strongest Latino families are tested under the weight of poverty, homelessness and poor health, and many find themselves at the doorstep of New York City’s Administration for Children Services (ACS). In fact, in 2007 Latino children accounted for 33.2% of admissions into foster care in New York City.(1) With the current economic recession, it is projected that there will be an increase in child welfare cases in New York. Despite this well-grounded projection, the New York State budget reveals that there will be severe budget cuts across all preventive services.

CHCF’s policy center is actively involved in addressing these budget cuts, as well as other issues in child welfare that affect the Latino communities in New York, such as:

• The deliverance of culturally competent and linguistically accessible family support services
  
  
• The importance of rapid response and intensive family support services
  
  
• Strengthening community input in the design and delivery of family support service
  
  
• The promotion of culturally and linguistically competent community education and prevention messages
  
  
• The need for capacity building to strengthen Latino organization providing family support services
  

Click to read related reports:

Bridging the Cultural Divide: Building a Continuum of Family Support Services for Latino Families

Voices of Preventive Service: Perspectives of Clients and Workers

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