Community Profiles
Challenges of Providing Child Welfare and Child Protection Services When Language Barriers Exist: Burdens Experienced by Service Providers and Clients
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sarah Maiter
Increased transmigration of people requires that social service agencies provide support in ways that address issues for newcomers who utilize their services or are targeted for intervention. Language barriers when service users do not speak the languages of a country can prevent responsive services and can be a burden for individual practitioners that can go unnoticed by agencies. This paper reports on findings from a qualitative research study that utilized focus group interviewing to explore ways in which child protection workers responded to families and the strategies they used in service provision where language barriers existed. Specifically, since the study was conducted in Canada, the exploration focused on provision of services to clients with limited English proficiency. Findings show that agencies hire bilingual and multilingual workers to an extent and use interpreters on occasion. Although benefits are noted when using these strategies, numerous challenges were also identified in both situations, including challenges in forming relationships with clients, lack of relevant services for immigrant families, lack of clear protocols in using interpreters, over/inappropriate use of bilingual workers, and inadequate training of interpreters and bilingual workers. These challenges placed additional "burdens" for service providers that go unrecognized by agencies. Burdens identified by bilingual/multilingual workers and by those using interpreters suggest that agencies need to provide better guidelines and training for services and examine ways in which to recognize the struggles of workers in their efforts to be responsive to their clients.
Breaking the Cycle: Community, Health Disparities and Social Economic Inequality : Finding a Pathway to Building a Healthy Community
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yandong Liu
When discussing issues of health disparities and socioeconomic inequality, one cannot separate them from communities, especially those with minorities and cultural diversity. The community as part of society offers a rich and powerful content. It embeds itself largely in a physical social environment, that not only represents a geographical location but includes groups of people of various ages, genders, ethnicities, cultural origins, primary languages as well as their social economic status that ties to social identity and education attainment, employment status, income level and immigration status. Community growth is determined by social conditions, which are products of society. Resources and environmental safety are two elements that often contribute to a community’s capacity for development. The community is also a producer that interacts and influences the society actively. This discussion will focus on the West Side and Near West Side of Chicago communities as examples to illustrate the importance of social cohesion from a community health perspective. It will review social determinants that have influenced the communities’ overall health and development and identify key parties that can contribute with positive long-lasting changes. This work seeks to find a practical pathway to bring local government, policy makers and crucial professional partners together to create opportunities for diverse communities that have long battled with multiple challenges due to damaged social economic conditions.
