Executive Summary
Unidos
Para Los Niños is a coalition of individuals and organizations
concerned about the welfare of Latino children and their families. The
mission of the Unidos Coalition is to prevent child abuse and neglect
in the Latino community by providing information to community members,
by educating professionals that work with Latino families, and by advocating
on behalf of Latino children and their families. Members include child
protection workers, Latino social service organizations, parents, and
day care providers.
Background
In the last ten years the population of the Latino community in Minnesota
has increased dramatically and projections indicate that this trend
will continue. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, from 1990 to 1999
the Latino population increased by 71.8 percent in Minnesota (http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/state/rank/hisp.txt).
Approximately 40 percent of these new Minnesotans are either monolingual
or speak only Spanish in the home. As the Latino population has grown,
the need for appropriate social services has also increased. The number
of Latino children in the child protection system continues to increase
dramatically. It is therefore crucial that the Latino community receive
appropriate, effective information on such topics as family strengthening,
child abuse prevention, and child development. When serving Latino clients,
many members of the Coalition have been frustrated in their attempts
to locate effective, culturally appropriate resources. This frustration
is even greater for individuals who may be the only Spanish speaking
person on staff and therefore without peer guidance.
With
the assistance of the University of Minnesota's Children, Youth, and
Family Consortium, the Coalition decided to commission a report on culturally
and linguistically appropriate parenting curriculum. The Coalition was
interested in knowing what types of culturally appropriate parenting
materials existed nationally as well as internationally. The report
would allow the committee and other social service workers to have access
to curriculum, pamphlets, and other parenting materials and resources
that would enhance their work with Latino families.
Through
funds awarded by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), a
graduate research assistant was hired to conduct the study from September
2000 to January 2001. The purpose of this study was not to find exhaustive
evidence and resources of parenting curriculum in Spanish, but to create
a coherent list of valued resources the Coalition could use to improve
its own community work. The preference was to locate resources that
had been created by and for the Latino community.
This
study investigated both community-based, grassroots programs as well
as programs created for a general audience that have been translated
into Spanish. The study did not attempt to rank these materials, but
rather gives the reader a base of information through which they can
evaluate the appropriateness of the material for the particular group
with whom they are working.
An
important decision was made by the Unidos Coalition towards the beginning
of the project to gather as much information as possible and produce
an annotated bibliography, or a descriptive list, of resources that
service workers could use as a reference. In this way, the Unidos Coalition
hopes to empower the individual worker to think critically and assess
each piece of material to determine how it would best suit their needs.
Taking this into consideration, one must remember the complexities of
multicultural work and remember them when creating or implementing a
program for a particular group.
Research
Process
This investigation began with a broad literature review. The author
conducted Internet, library, and community-based research with a focus
on finding parenting curricula that address issues relevant to Latino
parents raising children in the United States. The search revealed studies
identifying the needs of Latino parents, articles and manuals defining
how to evaluate parenting curriculum for specific groups, parenting
curriculum culturally appropriate for Latino families, web-based and
non web-based information in Spanish relating to parenting, and a few
parenting videos. The following report includes all the materials identified
and reviewed during the research phase. The report is not only helpful
for service workers who want to find information to use with their parents
and families, but it is also helpful for those who wish to create a
new curriculum or for those who wish to evaluate curriculum and its
appropriateness for Latino families.
The
author also conducted interviews with key community members to gather
valuable local and national information. The interviews included university
professors, social service workers in various national agencies, and
local community people. Some of these people included Fran Kaplan, MSW,
co-creator of Crianza con Cariño; William Diaz, Ph.D., professor
at the Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota; Sonia Davila-Williams,
MSW, Coordinator, School of Social Work, University of Minnesota; and
Tim Hilgert, program director, Migrant Head Start, Texas.
Throughout
this process, the researcher received feedback and input from Unidos
members and the Children, Youth and Family Consortium staff. They helped
guide the research and organize the findings into concepts and categories.
After
gathering all of the information and resources, the next step was to
establish a coherent order that would be most useful for service providers
and parent educators. The first section summarizes various research
studies regarding Latino parents and parenting curriculum. The references
in this section address issues of empowerment, socioeconomic differences,
cultural factors, feedback and evaluation processes, the appropriateness
of mainstream curriculum, and recommendations to educators when working
with Latino parents. The second section lists articles that relate to
parenting curriculum program evaluation and its relevance for Latino
parents. The third section gives brief summaries of parenting curriculum
for Latino parents. The fourth and fifth sections are lists of Spanish
language materials available on and off-line for Latino parents. The
sixth section lists selected video resources for parenting. And finally,
the last section is a quick reference tool guide that includes all the
resources.
The
quick reference chart lists key elements found in each item. They are
culturally appropriate, linguistically appropriate, child development
stages, child abuse prevention, program evaluation, and age specific.
Each item is marked with a yes if it is found in the material. If it
is left blank, it does not mean that it is not a part of the material,
it just means that the material wasn't explicit in identifying the item
as an issue.
The
original hope was that once the information was gathered, an advisory
group appointed by the Unidos Coalition would help develop criteria
for appropriate parenting curriculum and evaluate the collected materials
based on this criteria. This remains to be completed by the Unidos Coalition
at a later date.
Limitations
When using this guide, it is important to understand the limitations
of the researcher in finding information.
Much
of the information on the following pages was gathered through Internet
research. There are many community groups that do not have access to
the Internet, let alone have their own web page with program information.
Therefore, there may exist many other helpful materials out of reach
to the researcher because they are not nationally published and/or on
the Internet.
The
researcher tried to make contacts and find information in Latin American
countries but was unsuccessful. She looked at university web sites,
used Latin American University library on-line systems, and called to
speak with university representatives and professors who are in the
child development and family science field, but was unable to find relevant
information. Future research on this topic should include a thorough
investigation of parenting curriculum in Latin American countries, and
an analysis of what to incorporate into parenting curriculum for Latino
families living in the United States.
Recommendations
There are many ways in which this guide could be used. The following
are some suggestions to consider.
1.
Disseminate this report as widely as possible, including posting it
on the Unidos Para Los Niños web site with direct links to Internet
resources.
2.
Collaborate with the University of Minnesota's Children, Youth and Family
Consortium to create some type of searchable on-line database system,
either using a Unidos Para Los Niños web site or hosting it on
the Consortium web site.
3.
Create a brief, summary guide to distribute to local social service
agencies, giving workers direct access to the information in the report.
This will enhance their ability to work effectively with clients on
parenting issues.
4.
Develop a set of criteria for appropriate parenting curriculum for Latinos
that is specific to Minnesota. There is great potential for creating
these criteria by using the resources and articles found in this study.
5.
Maintain high levels of quality to parenting services for Latino families
in Minnesota by evaluating and reviewing appropriate curriculum for
use by service workers.
- Misty Heggeness, 01/09/2001
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