The cultural competence model emerged in response to the need to provide culturally appropriate services to children with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders and their families. This model recognizes the increasing cultural diversity of client populations, the role of culture in help-seeking behavior, differential service utilization rates of various cultural and racial groups, diverse perspectives on the etiology of behavior and emotions that the dominant culture describes as mental health problems, and the need to consider culture in service delivery. The importance of developing culturally competent organizations is emphasized, and planning issues associated with the cultural competence model are discussed. Attention is also paid to the cultural competence model's impact on the child and adolescent service delivery system; outreach efforts to involve minority families who have children with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders; the development of a cultural competence plan by South Carolina's Department of Mental Health; the incorporation of cultural competence in improving mental health services to children and adolescents in Pennsylvania; and cultural biases in the juvenile justice system. References