Child Welfare
CACF leads the work in partnering with the NYC child welfare system to ensure it best responds to the unique needs of APA communities.
Asian Pacific American (APA) communities struggle with high rates of poverty, over-crowded housing, and limited English proficiency, as well as face challenges related immigration status. But our families have little or no access to culturally competent and language accessible services focused on ensuring child well-being, preventing foster care, and keeping families together.
CACF, along with our partners, is working with the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and conducting trainings for front line ACS child protective staff on cultural sensitivity and best practices in responding to APA families.
Advocating for:
improved data collection and understanding of the various and unique risk factors for family instability among APA communities
cultural competency in child welfare response with APA families
improved interpretation and translation services in child welfare
increased resources to and partnerships between ACS and the APA community organizations
By the numbers.
22%
22% of Asian Americans live in poverty in NYC.
1 in 2
One in two APA children are born into poverty.
80%
About 80% of our population is foreign-born.
40%
Over 40% of Asian American homes are linguistically isolated, meaning that no one age 14 and above in the home is fluent in English.
PROGRAM GOAL
CACF is working to ensure a culturally sensitive child welfare system with proper interpretation and translation services — a child welfare system that better understands and responds to our diverse APA family needs.
List of Collaborative Partners
Arab-American Family Support Center
Chinatown YMCA
Chinese-American Planning Council
Korean American Family Service Center
Turning Point for Women and Families
University Settlement Society
Womankind
The Presentation Was Extremely Helpful
“The presentation was extremely helpful. I have a lot of families that would be benefited. I learned about community programs that I can refer to my client. I loved that there was a case example which was discussed in various groups. I would like to see this again in future meetings.”
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From NYC Administration for Children’s Services staff trained by CACF on best practices working with APA children and families.
Who to Contact
For more information on Child Welfare, please contact Anita Gundanna, Co-Executive Director, at agundanna@cacf.org.