Assessments for black children should address the impact that racism has on a particular child and family and ensure that the assessment process itself does not reinforce racism through racial or cultural stereotyping.

In assessing the developmental needs of black children and their families two key questions should be addressed:

• What are the developmental needs of black children and their families, and in what ways are these similar, and in what ways do they differ from the developmental needs of white children and families?

• How can these developmental needs be responded to in work with black children and families?

Both black and white children require their parents or carers to respond to their same fundamental care needs. They all need basic care, warmth, stimulation, guidance, boundaries and stability. Any child who grows up without access to these basic life blocks (as a result of poor parental care) will suffer to a greater or lesser extent.

The base lines for assessing parenting capacity and the child’s developmental needs should be the same irrespective of whether a black or a white child is being assessed.

Socio economic conditions

Evidence suggests that many of Britain’s black population are experiencing economic hardship. According to the Social Exclusion Unit (1998) ‘Ethnic minority groups are more likely than the rest of the population to live in poor areas, be unemployed, have low incomes, live in poor housing, have poor health and be the victims of crime’.

The important point about the socio-economic conditions of black communities from an assessment perspective is that black communities are at greater risk of experiencing some of the stress so often associated with people who need the services of social care agencies.

The changing nature of culture for England’s black population

The impact of social and economic forces, the effects of racism and racial harassment, changing family structures, access to suitable housing, the interaction between cultures, (particularly in respect of children and young people and the experience of growing up in England) are amongst a number of factors which have led to the changing nature of culture for black communities in this country. However, this has not led to an erosion of culture, as has sometimes been portrayed, but to the emergence of new cultural frameworks.

In some cases there has been a return to traditional values, exhibited by an increased interest in religious observance; in others, particularly among teenagers, there has been a mixing of cultures to create a street based culture strongly influenced by black, and in particular, black American and Caribbean culture. The cross-fertilisation of cultures has been described as ‘enculturation’ meaning a continuity with some traditional norms alongside the adopting of some of the norms of British lifestyles.

Despite these significant changes, culture remains a central part of the lives of black communities, for it is the primary way in which black communities can give meaning and continuity to their own distinct identities, rites, traditions, values, beliefs and customs. For many black people, it is their culture, which gives them the strength to survive in a hostile environment.

Family Support

There is evidence also that black families are not gaining access to family support services. In a study of black families’ use of family centres Butt and Box (1998) found that 13 out of the 84 centres had no black and minority ethnic users and 25 centres had black and minority ethnic users in equal proportion to their presence in the population. The authors conclude: Our study suggests that black communities do not always have access to family centres and rarely access the full range of services that are available.

This is not merely an outcome of black families choosing which service they access (although there is an element of that) but that the services only rarely get black families through the front door and some black users appeared to be unaware of the range of services that were available.

Link to: Racism

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