Listening to you, working for you and CULTURE BME and CULTURE

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Objectives To understand the culture of B.M.E. children and their families. To explore the necessary tools that professionals need to work with B.M.E. children and their families while being mindful of their culture.

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you CULTURE DEFINED Culture can be referred to as art, beliefs, behaviour, ideas or activities relating to literature, art, and music of a particular society or group of people. However, that is only the simply definition that appears on the dictionary. Culture involves other important subjects that describe deeply this word, issues such as, family, language, identity, stereotyping, raising, expectations, economic situation and so on.

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you CULTURE DEFINED Therefore, family is the place in which society begins, but in many cases families are part of different cultures, and the ones that are affected by this situation are the children. These children are the ones who have to fight day by day against these

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you CULTURE DEFINED A good example is having something and losing it compared to never having to go through the experience of a loss of something. In other words becoming poor in a culture that you are a foreign is hardest than becoming poor in your own culture. This means that although you miss many things, you still have more common things that identify with you. Lastly, language is one of the most important facts that influence in the adjustment of cultures. As humans we acquire language for very direct, meaningful purposes.

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you DEALING WITH UNKNOWN The Social Worker when working across differences of race is dealing with unknown, the unknown is seen as a risk and consequently B.M.E. children are taken into care far too quickly. This is an extremely astute observation by a Bexley Social Worker but often staff were unaware that they may be using their cultural values in making judgements and / or found it very difficult to understand their difference from B.M.E. colleagues, children and families as much as understand B.M.Es difference from them. They also were mostly at a loss to identify their own culture of cultural norms or values.

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you CULTURE The culture of an individual is informed by their Nationality Tribe Family Self* Food Media etc.

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you SELF* According to Gus John theory, Self is the summation of Self confidence Self discipline Self image Self knowledge Self realisation Self development

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you SELF* Self wealth Self esteem Self definition Self management

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you A POSITIVE IDENTITY The culture of an individual is key to a positive identity which produces a sense of security in knowing who you are. For example, African names is very significant in their culture. It gives the reason why a child is named. It could be: To identify a particular family To identify a particular tribe To identify a particular belief system To identify the individual In remembrance of a particular event To create role models.

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you A POSITIVE IDENTITY A child can be named after Elders of the family People that are in position of power or status After a particular event Benefactors of the family

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you WORKING WITH B.M.E. CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES Professionals must Be genuine Be narrative (listen to them) Communicate effectively Inform them of systems to help them Inform them of the power of the systems Understand the differences in background of parents and their children (children born in England while parents were born abroad) Help them to navigate the system

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you WORKING WITH B.M.E. CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES – INTERVENTION As a Professional that has been asked to undertake child protection investigations and assessments, the basis of your intervention is the History of the child / family. What the History helps you to understand includes: Relevant knowledge base Limitations in Education Intellectual capacity and Belief system / spirituality

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE BASE Relevant knowledge base include: General knowledge of child protection A particular knowledge of the family in question (especially when contacting statutory and voluntary organisations) A knowledge of informal, formal and societal systems surrounding both yourself (worker) an the child/family (client) A certain kind of self-knowledge

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you ENGAGING THE FAMILY When engaging with the family, you must Acknowledge your need for specialist skills and knowledge Demonstrate respect and gain trust Disclose to establish commonality Be mindful of the power of language Know what to say to family members collectively and individually Identify the best time to meet the family; ascertain the working hours of parents Explore with the parents their responsibilities, expectations etc.

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you EFFECTIVE WORKING WITH THE CHILD / FAMILY To work effectively with the child / family, you must Know the history of the family Have a knowledge of the family now Have an idea of the childs identity Have an understanding of the child Know the systems the child is exposed to Know the childs support network / extended self

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you EFFECTIVE WORKING WITH THE CHILD / FAMILY To work effectively with the child / family, you must Have an awareness of the totality of the childs being Know the Power dynamics of your organisation Understand the Legislation, Policies and procedures Be armed with strategies of managing anxieties Know yourself (fears, jealousy, anxieties, envy etc)

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you INDIVIDUAL WORK In summary, to work with B.M.E. children and their families, the professional must show Cultural-Competence. Lack of this leads to waste of time, energy, resources and terribly managed cases by the professional. This often leaves behind a dissatisfied and angry child / family

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you INDIVIDUAL WORK Read the handout youve been given on Cultural-Competence and pull out the key areas that you (as a professional) have to work on. Time allocated is 15 minutes.

Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you Listening to you, working for you References 1.Safeguarding Black African children and families by Amma Anane Agyei (2010) 2.Meaning of Culture - word-culture-mean word-culture-mean 3.Making a Difference by C. Tegg et al. (May 2002)