Contextual pathways to Latino child welfare involvement: A theoretical model located in the intersections of place, culture, and socio-structural factors

Latino children and families represent the fastest growing group in the child welfare system. However, research that explores Latinos experiences in the child welfare system is limited. By drawing upon several bodies of literature, this paper introduces a Latino Child Welfare Research and Practice Model that incorporates the physical, individual and social, institutional, socio-political, and subjective environments. The theoretical model posits that the lack of attention to these multiple and interlocking contextual dimensions of environment increases risk for Latino children to enter the child welfare system. Taken together, the five dimensions of environment incorporate contextual pathways to Latino child welfare that are historically situated in time and place, rooted in culture, and ideologically driven by socio-structural institutions. The model is used as a guiding framework to inform effective Latino child welfare practice, research, and policy recommendations.