As more abused and neglected children, many of whom are minorities, are committed to state custody, child welfare workers and other helping professionals have begun to take a closer look at issues of race and power and how each affects the quality and quantity of services offered. Professionals have sounded a call for a renewed focus on the special needs of minority children as well as for the development and utilization of an empowerment-based model of practice. The author explores how this model might be applied to work with adolescents of color and how it can help to facilitate the development of racial identity, which some believe to be inseparable from core identity, in minority adolescents.
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