Multimedia

Developed by: Wendy Haight, PhD and Sookyoung Park, PhD candidate
Date published: August 2024

Asians make up the second largest immigrant group in the United States, and The Pew Research Center is predicting that Asians will become the largest immigrant group in the US by 2055. Zooming in on Minnesota, and Korean immigrants specifically, there are over 28,000 Koreans currently living in the state. This has impacts for child protection workers throughout Minnesota, especially when considering cultural differences. Dr. Mimi Choy-Brown and Dr. Wendy Haight bring you this helpful new infographic, Child Welfare and Korean Immigrants in Minnesota. Workers can learn about the history of Korean immigration, the "Model Minority" myth, as well as how to better understand and show cultural sensitivity towards Korean cultural norms, especially when it comes to discipline and interacting with Korean parents.

Child Welfare and Korean Immigrants in Minnesota infographic series

Developed by: Wendy Haight, PhD, Sookyoung Park, Houa Vang
Date published: 2023

This infographic series, Hmong Families in the U.S.: Adjusting to Western Culture, summarizes the available research on parenting, parenting beliefs, and practices of Hmong families acculturation stress within the United States and offers important context for child welfare professionals working with this population.

Full Infographic Series Found Here

Authors: Johara Suleiman, MSW, LICSW; Wendy Haight, PhD
September, 2022

Our partners at Gamble-Skogmo Chair in Child Welfare and Youth Policy developed a short animated video for child welfare workers and other providers who work with Somali families. The audience will learn about some important components of Somali culture that are shared by the majority of Somalis and some of the challenges Somali immigrant parents may face upon arrival to the United States. It describes some ways in which professionals engaging with Somali families may misinterpret cultural differences as problems, and offers ways of engaging cultural humility practices to approach their supporting role in a way that enhances the many culturally rooted strengths Somali parents possess. Child welfare workers can use this resource to improve their service for Somali families and ensure the best outcomes for them and their children.

Additional resources for workers:

• Somali American Parent Association
• Ayada Leads
• Pearls of Hope Community Center

A partnership between CEED (Center for Early Education and Development) and CASCW.

This video was supported in part by the Minnesota Department of Human Services Children and Family Services division.

Early identification of developmental delays is important for access to early intervention and early childhood special education. Child welfare workers can play an important role in supporting early childhood development by connecting children and their caregivers to the services and supports they need. This video summarizes the process for developmental screening and evaluation for early intervention/childhood special education in Minnesota.

Additional resources:

• Help Me Grow Minnesota
• Help Me Connect
• The importance and process of early childhood screening

In partnership with Gamble-Skogmo Chair in Child Welfare and Youth Policy, CASCW developed a three-part webinar series on Moral Injury. Moral injury refers to the lasting psychological, spiritual and social harm caused by one’s own or another’s actions in a high stakes situation. This series covers key aspects of moral injury impacting children, families, and workers in child welfare and was originally presented on June 22-24, 2021.

Part 1. The Experience of Moral Injury in Childhood and Adolescence: Implications for Strengthening Trauma-Informed Care

Johara Suleiman, Minhae Cho, Ndilimeke Nashandi, Ruti Soffer-Elnekave, Wendy Haight

Emerging adults (ages 18-25 years) generally reported high levels of moral injury in childhood and adolescence. The most common moral injuries described by emerging adults in this study were child maltreatment, adults’ failure to protect them, and injury to their identities as individuals worthy of respect, and as members of particular groups (e.g. BIPOC communities). In addition, most participants reported multiple moral injuries, and moral injuries that were sustained across months or years. Session one includes a discussion of implications for strengthening trauma informed care.

View Part One

Part 2. The Experience of Moral Injury in Childhood and Adolescence: Implications for Child Welfare System Reform

Ndilimeke Nashandi, Johara Suleiman, Minhae Cho, Ruti Soffer-Elnekave, Wendy Haight

Part two focuses on the physical and social contexts of morally injurious events described by emerging adults, and presented in part 1. Most participants described their out-of-home placements as the primary sites of morally injurious events, and parents, substitute caregivers and professionals working within the child welfare system as the primary perpetrators of morally injurious events. Part two includes a discussion of implications for system reform.

View Part Two

Part 3. Developing a Positive Life Philosophy to Soothe Moral Injury: Insights from Emerging Adults

Ruti Soffer-Elnekave, Ndilimeke Nashandi, Johara Suleiman, Minhae Cho, Wendy Haight

Part three presents the insights of emerging adults regarding how moral injury may be soothed. Emerging adults, who at the time of the interview presented as being in a positive place in their lives, described a life philosophy that soothed their feelings of moral injury. This life philosophy included some mix of spiritual beliefs, hope, gratitude, forgiveness, and finding meaning in their morally injurious experiences. This orientation was supported through positive relationships with adults and contemporaries, meaningful intervention by mental health and social service providers, and participation in prosocial behaviors/activities. Part 3 includes a discussion of Intervention efforts child welfare workers may engage to meaningfully influence system reform and serve as allies to youth.

View Part Three

This video features the perspectives of three frontline social workers at various stages of their child protection careers and highlights their experience with moral injury in their work with children and families. In this video you will learn about how moral injury happens, what moral injury feels like, and how to cope with moral injury.

This project was developed in partnership between the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare and the Gamble-Skogmo Chair in Child Welfare and Youth Policy of the University of Minnesota.

Author: Cary Waubanascum

This six-part video series highlights frontline perspectives of Indigenous Child Welfare in Minnesota. The series features interviews with current and former ICWA workers and supervisors about their experience supporting families in child welfare. This video series was developed by Cary Waubanascum, social work PhD student, through a partnership between the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare and the Gamble-Skogmo Child Welfare and Youth Policy Endowed Chair.

• Interview with Bobbi Jo Potter - Part 1 / Part 2
• Interview with Jennifer Beckman-LaFave - Part 1 / Part 2
• Interview with David Glesener - Part 1 / Part 2

Authors: Patricia Shannon, PhD and Connor Malloy

In this four-part video series interviews are conducted with members from four of Minnesota’s largest refugee communities (Somali, Karen, Oromo, and Nepali-Bhutanese) in which the community members discuss their communities’ interactions with child protection services. The videos cover such general topics as the communities’ awareness of child protection services’ mission (or lack thereof), generational differences and their effects on power dynamics within the family structure, a learned distrust of representatives of governments, starkly different notions related to corporal punishment, and important considerations to make when using interpreters. Each video also highlights the lived experiences, differences from “back home,” communication styles, and notions of respect that are unique to the Somali, Karen, Oromo, and Nepali-Bhutanese communities, all of which relate to the work being done by child welfare professionals in Minnesota.

• The Somali Community
• The Nepali Bhutanese Community
• The Karen Community
• The Oromo Community

This six-part video training series was developed in partnership with the Center for Early Education and Development, the Institute of Child Development, and the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare. The videos feature experts covering topics related to child development in depth and provide connection to children experiencing out-of-home placement. The videos feature experts from the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development including Dr. Jed Elison, Dr. Abigail Gewirtz, Dr. Melissa Koenig, Dr. Alyssa Meuwissen, and Dr. Anne Gearity. The videos also feature voices from the field of people who have worked or are currently working directly with children involved in out of home placement.

• Dr. Ann Gearity gives an Overview of Early Childhood Development
• Dr. Melissa Koenig talks about Executive Function
• Dr. Mary Harrison talks about Joint Attention
• Dr. Koenig talks about Pro-Social Skills
• Dr. Abigail Gewirtz discusses Trauma and Resilience
• Karlene Smith gives a Worker Perspective

Developed by: By Jane Gilgun, PhD & Tina Barr, MSW. Ph.D. cand.
Date published: 2017

Complex Trauma, Self-Regulation and Mindfulness-Based Practices (pdfs)

Trauma Complejo, Autorregulación, y Prácticas Basadas en la Atención Plena (pdfs)