Building multicultural practice in out-of-home care

The resources on this page were developed by MacKillop Family Services in collaboration with the Centre for Multicultural Youth, to enhance the cultural responsiveness of out-of-home care programs.

Why is culturally-responsive care important?

In addition to family separation, young people and families from multicultural backgrounds can face additional challenges, including displacement, discrimination, and language barriers. Poor understanding of cultural norms can also result in culturally inappropriate service delivery from care teams who may lack specific cultural knowledge (Kaur, 2012).

Research suggests that greater connection with and celebration of their cultural background can support young people to gain a clearer sense of their identity and help develop coping strategies that increase their resilience.

How were the resources developed?

MacKillop identified an opportunity to improve outcomes for multicultural young people across the out-of-home care sector, by building the capability of care teams to deliver culturally-responsive care.

Philanthropic funding was sourced from the Scanlon Foundation, the Brian M Davis Charitable Foundation, and Equity Trustees to pilot a Cultural Mentoring program, utilising the existing cultural knowledge and expertise already present within MacKillop’s culturally diverse staff. The resources were developed during the pilot, and informed by evidence gleaned from an independent review of the program.