How and when does ethnicity matter? A cross national study of social worker's responses to ethnicity in child protection cases

It is an established part of the conventional wisdom of social work theory and practice that attention to ethnic difference is at the core of best practice. This principle is endorsed in welfare legislation or in the training and education of social workers in most European countries. Little empirical evidence exists, however, to demonstrate that this principle guides practitioner decision making, or to verify the claim that it benefits ethnic minority clients.