Social Work with Black Children and Their Families

As part of a series on child care policy, this book describes the situation of black families in Britain who face many problems stemming from both racial discrimination and from the aftermath of migration: the latter, while it opened up new opportunities, also imposed strains felt beyond the generation of people who were newcomers to Britain. The welfare services have not always dealt with the problems of poverty, poor housing and unemployment in appropriate ways. Disproportionate numbers of black children are in care, with less chance of reunion with their parents than white children. Care provided by local authorities may also be insensitive to diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultural needs. Only recently have black substitute parents been found for black children. Welfare services for young offenders have also not been operated adequately for black adolescents, so disproportionate numbers are in youth custody establishements. In the early 1980s, social services began to recognize these problems and this book describes developments and explores possible ways of providing services which are appropriate to Britain's multi-racial population. The contributors seeks to describe practical ways of meeting needs, and their implications for black families and the practitioners and administrators who work with them. Juliet Cheetham is the author of "Social Work and Ethnicity".