Cultural Sensitivity in Social Work

Regardless of the background and upbringing of an individual, there are common threads and patterns that typify everyone's life as a child and as they develop. However, there are most certainly variations when it comes to things like culture and the society that is lived within during this process. Even when speaking of a singular cultural area like a city, state or especially a nation, there will be differing norms, values and so forth based on the culture or cultures that one is exposed to and raised within. This report will look at the common Latino experience as well as a few other notable cultures and how this can affect and vary the interactions and reactions seen when it comes to social work. While trying to treat every situation with the same cultural and societal lens might seem attractive, the underlying cultures and patterns that actually exist preclude this from being an option and thus it should not be tried.

What is mentioned in the introduction is not clear to some but it is most certainly true. When it comes to the norms, values and outcomes of a child and his/her upbringing, a lot of the variations and differences come down to the prevailing culture that the child exists and is raised within. The prompt for this assignment lays out that children are like a sponge and that they absorb things like rules, dynamics and values of a culture and that this happens on both a direct and indirect basis. This process and fact of the matter has to be taken into account when social workers interact and work with such families. Many families that a social worker interacts with may be of a culture that the social worker inhabits or is at least familiar with. At the same time, social workers have to be prepared to deal with and assess the cultural underpinnings and factors surrounding people of other cultures and how that will or should affect the social work process with said family. Thus, if a given social worker is unprepared to do that when it comes down to it being necessary, adjustments need to be made (NASW, 2017).

One thing that dawns on the other of this response is that being of a different culture than the families that will be worked with and addressed is itself going to be a challenge. After all, there is a tendency of many people to distrust people from outside their culture or that is perceived to have different norms and values. The Hernandez family example given for this assignment is a good example. If the social services person they work with is African-American or white, there is a good to great chance that the Hernandez family and its parents/leaders will assume that the social services worker is out of touch with their values and there may be some distrust. This is why it is very important to make it clear that their norms and values are respected and that this has no bearing on how the law will be enforced and how services will be rendered. Even better, it is a great thing to be able to show understanding and literacy with the culture of the client even if it is not the culture of the social services person in question. This will put the minds of the client at ease and this is huge when it comes to helping them out, getting them to continue a relationship with social services and so forth. Indeed, if the client feels as if there is bigotry, lack of understanding or a lack of cultural awareness, the chances that they will refuse to cooperate and come back is higher (SWT, 2017)