Discussion 1: Cultural Influences of Social Policy Cultures, regardless of where they are or how long ago they existed, share a few common characteristics. Among these characteristics is a structure to care for their children and to socialize them in the culture. Children are taught, both directly and indirectly, the values of the culture, their role in the culture, and the expectations the culture has for them. Children absorb the rules, dynamics, and values, which they will later pass these on to subsequent generations. As a social worker, you will deal with families from different cultural backgrounds. Understanding the cultural background of the families you work with will help you to effectively intervene and advocate for policies that support their needs. How prepared are you to identify and advocate for social policies that are just and support families from all cultures? For this Discussion, review this week’s resources, including the Hernandez Family video case. Consider how cultural considerations might affect child welfare policy. Then, think about what your responsibilities, as a social worker, might be in supporting the Hernandez family in addressing their child welfare needs through the accessibility of services. By Day 3 Post an explanation of how cultural considerations might affect child welfare policy. Then, explain what your responsibilities, as a social worker, might be in supporting the Hernandez family in addressing their child welfare needs through the accessibility of services. Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references. Hernandez Family Episode 3 Program Transcript JUAN HERNANDEZ: Do you have any idea how hard it is for us to get to these classes? ELENA HERNANDEZ: And there's only one class a week. We don't have a choice when to come. FEMALE SPEAKER: That is why we offer the parenting class at night, to make it easier for working families to attend. ELENA HERNANDEZ: That's fine for some people, but that's when Juan gets his overtime. He can't do both. Every time we come here it costs us. We lose money. And the way things are, we can't afford to lose a dime. FEMALE SPEAKER: I understand that missing overtime is having a big impact on you financially. And I understand what you're saying about the class only being offered one night a week. If we could offer it several times a week, that would probably be more helpful. But in the meantime-- JUAN HERNANDEZ: Look, let's stop dancing around what's really wrong here. We appreciate what you're doing. You want to help parents do a better job with their kids. But we're good parents. We love our kids. Yes, they get punished when they need to be punished, just Elena and I when we were growing up. But we don't hit our boys. We don't hurt them. If anything, you hurt them by making us come here when I could be out there making extra money, money that the family needs. Do you h.

1. Discussion 1: Cultural Influences of Social Policy
Cultures, regardless of where they are or how long ago they
existed, share a few common characteristics. Among these
characteristics is a structure to care for their children and to
socialize them in the culture. Children are taught, both directly
and indirectly, the values of the culture, their role in the
culture, and the expectations the culture has for them. Children
absorb the rules, dynamics, and values, which they will later
pass these on to subsequent generations.
As a social worker, you will deal with families from different
cultural backgrounds. Understanding the cultural background of
the families you work with will help you to effectively
intervene and advocate for policies that support their needs.
How prepared are you to identify and advocate for social
policies that are just and support families from all cultures?
For this Discussion, review this week’s resources, including the
Hernandez Family video case. Consider how cultural
considerations might affect child welfare policy. Then, think
about what your responsibilities, as a social worker, might be in
supporting the Hernandez family in addressing their child
welfare needs through the accessibility of services.
By Day 3
Post an explanation of how cultural considerations might affect
child welfare policy. Then, explain what your responsibilities,
as a social worker, might be in supporting the Hernandez family
in addressing their child welfare needs through the accessibility

2. of services.
Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be
sure to provide full APA citations for your references.
Hernandez Family Episode 3
Program Transcript
JUAN HERNANDEZ: Do you have any idea how hard it is for
us to get to these
classes?
ELENA HERNANDEZ: And there's only one class a week. We
don't have a
choice when to come.
FEMALE SPEAKER: That is why we offer the parenting class
at night, to make it
easier for working families to attend.
ELENA HERNANDEZ: That's fine for some people, but that's
when Juan gets his
overtime. He can't do both. Every time we come here it costs us.
We lose money.
And the way things are, we can't afford to lose a dime.
FEMALE SPEAKER: I understand that missing overtime is
having a big impact

3. on you financially. And I understand what you're saying about
the class only
being offered one night a week. If we could offer it several
times a week, that
would probably be more helpful. But in the meantime--
JUAN HERNANDEZ: Look, let's stop dancing around what's
really wrong here.
We appreciate what you're doing. You want to help parents do a
better job with
their kids. But we're good parents. We love our kids. Yes, they
get punished
when they need to be punished, just Elena and I when we were
growing up. But
we don't hit our boys. We don't hurt them.
If anything, you hurt them by making us come here when I
could be out there
making extra money, money that the family needs. Do you hear
me? This class
this, whole policy is the real problem. That's what needs to
change, not us.
Hernandez Family Episode 3
Discussion 2: Child Welfare and Family Preservation

4. An essential aspect of social work practice is the support and
preservation of the family unit. Building and empowering
strong, resilient families is a focus of social work practice
within organizations and communities.
Social work research is an integral aspect of working with
families. The research component of social work is essential to
providing effective policies, programs, and services to support
and empower families.
As a social worker, you need to be equipped with the knowledge
and skills required for effectively working with families for
child welfare. You also need to interpret and evaluate research
findings involving family and child welfare.
For this Discussion, review this week’s resources. Consider the
role of family preservation in child welfare, the research
regarding family preservation, and the assumptions about foster
care. Think about whether you agree with the research, and
whether there are any gaps in your state foster care system that
might contribute to the assumptions. Reflect on the benefits and
shortfalls of permanency planning and family preservation and
which approach you prefer.
By Day 4
Post an explanation of the role of family preservation in child
welfare. Then, explain whether research supports the
assumption that foster care is harmful for children, as presented
by the cornerstone argument for family preservation. Be sure to
include whether you agree with this assumption and why you

5. agree or disagree. Subsequently, identify the gaps in your state
foster care system that contribute to the idea that foster care is
harmful to children. Then, compare the benefits and shortfalls
of permanency planning and family preservation. Finally,
provide a description of whether you prefer the permanency or
the family preservation approach as a child welfare social
worker and why you prefer it.
Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be
sure to provide full APA citations for your references.
Required Readings
Popple, P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2019). The policy-based
profession: An introduction to social welfare policy analysis for
social workers (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education.
Chapter 10, “Child Welfare: Family Preservation Policy” (pp.
214-244)
Edwards, H. R., Bryant, D. U., & Bent-Goodley, T. B. (2011).
Participation and influence in federal child welfare
policymaking. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 5(2/3), 145–
166.
Plummer, S. -B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. (Eds.). (2014).
Sessions: Case histories. Baltimore: MD: Laureate International
Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
Part 1, "The Hernandez Family" (pp.3–5)