Nuts & Bolts Webinar: Cultural Reciprocity: Leaning Forward, Not Bending Over Backwards

Bending over backwards means acquiescing in some process that you are not comfortable with. It can sometimes mean engaging in a false understanding of someone else's culture and an attempt to participate in culturally competent ways. Cultural reciprocity is an approach that goes beyond the concept of cultural competence. Service providers take the first step in cultural reciprocity when they recognize the cultural assumptions and biases that underlie their own practice and acknowledge that they cannot be competent in the cultures of all the families they serve. By seeking to learn about the beliefs of family members and reciprocally explaining professional assumptions and beliefs, mutual respect can be established. This process results in genuine collaboration with families in establishing and pursuing realistic goals for the children they serve.