Multicultural and International Approaches in Social Work Practice

An Intercultural Perspective

Building upon the author’s integrative and interactive ideas about human services fields, this book presents an intercultural perspective of social work education, practice, and research with culturally–linguistically-relationally underprivileged minority groups in the local and global communities, to show how the synthesis of theories from postmodern social constructionism, multiculturalism, and international organization empowerment can be applied when working with Asian immigrant families. This book also demonstrates how a mutual development model of intercultural organizational-institutional collaborative partnership can be relevant when providing an International Experience for Human Services Abroad Course.

Author Kui-Hee Song uses in-depth case studies in the culturally linguistic and diverse context of human services fields and in the cross-nationally interactive context of host country human services organizations and home university academic administrations. Kui-Hee Song examines the clinical change process of a Korean immigrant family that is working with Child Protective Services, seeking to resolve physical child abuse problems and generate new meanings in parent-child relationships through therapeutic conversational dialogue. As the new to this edition, a case of Ming's story is especially, the cultural differences between the Chinese immigrant client family and American medical setting where practitioner’s personal beliefs were challenged. Kui-Hee Song critically examines specific steps to take in establishing intercultural service learning field placements for an experiential learning education abroad course. Song explores the significant leadership roles and responsibilities of host country human services organizations and home university administrators involved with making a new international human services experience abroad program planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Specially, Song provides a profound understanding of the empowerment process of a Korean family: a conversational partnership in dialogue that invites the clients to speak their loud-hitherto unheard-voices and enhance a personal perception of competency for action and hope. Song also gives a thoughtful comprehension of a mutual empowerment process of cross-national collaborative partners: differential responsibilities but mutually shared power, vision, and goals in working relationship that allows for each collaborator to stand together in unity of transactional and transformational leadership behaviors and strengthens the sustainability of the effective international human services experience abroad program.