This paper discusses one of the significant challenges facing social welfare today, the difficulty of serving black clients in ways that are not discriminatory or prejudicial. Blacks are the largest minority in American society and, like other minorities, are disproportionately represented in the population needing social welfare services. Additionally, social service professionals of different races are often unable to understand some of the cultural factors affecting care delivery. Consideration of ethnicity and a sensitivity to racial differences are important factors for any social work professional seeking to deliver effective, quality care.
Ethnicity has often been overlooked as an important factor in thinking about social welfare. Monica McGoldrick, John K. Pearce, and Joseph Giordano (1982) observe, "[Many] therapists have not appreciated the role of ethnicity in developing therapeutic models and interventions . . . [but] problems (whether physical or mental) can be neither diagnosed nor treated without some understanding of the frame of reference of the person seeking help" (p. xv). The United States encompasses individuals from almost every cultural, ethnic, and racial group on the planet, and the effective social worker must include an understanding of the context in which each client lives, in order to plan effective care.
The problem is compounded by the fact that, while blacks, for instance, constitute 13 percent of the population (Kilborn, 1999, February 14, p. 16), they are much more likely than their white counterparts to need some form of assistance. Blacks and many other minorities, especially among populations of recent immigrants, are much more likely to live in poverty. As a result, they are more likely to need the services of the social welfare system - and to be looked down on by the mainstream population because of this need. Winifred Bell (1983) argues, "The belief[s] that poverty is due to pe...