Honorable Mention, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights Outstanding Book Award

Highly readable and accessible, this book provides a framework for culturally competent practice with children and families in child maltreatment cases. Numerous workable strategies and concrete examples are presented to help readers address cultural concerns at each stage of the assessment and intervention process. Professionals and students learn new ways of thinking about their own cultural viewpoints as they gain critical skills for:

• Maximizing the accuracy of assessments for physical and sexual abuse
• Overcoming language barriers in parent and child interviews
• Building rapport with clients from diverse cultural groups
• Respecting families' values and beliefs while ensuring children's safety
• Collaborating with clergy, extended family members, and others in the client's support system
• Creating an agency environment that is welcoming and respectful to all

Classroom use: Serves as a text in undergraduate- or graduate-level courses in social work practice with children, child abuse, case management, child psychology, and practice with diverse clients.

239 pages

"A pedagogical treasure. Fontes possesses a skill found in the best trial attorneys. She can translate complex issues and prolific technical rhetoric into interesting, practical, and easily understandable form....Offers a clear, comprehensible read for both the amateur and professional and is packed with useful information which can be used in classrooms and training across professions....This book is a paradigm of fairness in the name of child safety while simultaneously approaching each client with an impartial and open-minded willingness to consider the cultural factors which shape the family and play a role in the alleged child maltreatment....The book is laced with concrete examples of cultural differences that arise in the context of child protection....Personally, I have employed many strategies suggested in Child Abuse and Culture in my child advocacy class and in practice, and have found that students, as well as myself, are now learning how to approach their clients' cultural issues with more awareness, sensitivity, and respect. This book offers an important cultural competence tool for scores of professions. I applaud Fontes' work over the last 15 years and highly encourage proliferation of this book."

-Family Court Review

"There is an important unintended audience for this book. Child Abuse and Culture...provides pediatricians with a unique perspective on the daily interactions that we have with children and families....an accessible and thoughtful discussion of how we can improve the protection of children and their families despite challenging cultural barriers....Fontes had created a strong structure from which we can begin our work."

-Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine

"A valuable resource for school psychologists and any professional who works with diverse clients."

-National Association of School Psychologists

"An indispensable how-to guide to intervention and prevention for professionals and trainees in child protection services, hospitals, schools, and mental health programs....[Fontes is] fair to all those involved with the difficult and life-transforming decisions precipitated by family violence in diverse populations."

-Celia J. Falicov, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego

"This book fills a key gap in the professional literature. Novice as well as experienced clinicians will find this book useful in helping them examine the cultural attitudes, biases, and strengths that affect their assessment, intervention, consultation, prevention, and training roles, particularly in relation to child maltreatment issues."

-David A. Wolfe, PhD, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, London, Ontario, Canada