The children living in the impoverished area of West Kingston have been continually exposed to community violence. The literature on violence in Jamaica speaks of crime and the influence of poverty on migration and the drug trade. Children are often the victims of this violence. Gang leaders that control the drug racket mainly in Kingston kill suspected informers. Jamaica plays a major role in the trans shipment of cocaine to Colombia, Britain and the U.S.

Children are also affected by violence through separation from parents. Within the last decade 22,000 youth were labeled "street children" who lived and worked ini the streets doing jobs such as machinery, welding, domestic work, care giving and newspaper delivery. Many turn to or are forced into chidl prosititution and/or the drug trade in order to survive.

At this presentation we will discuss a qualitative research study conducted in Kingston, Jamaica. A cross cultural research team comprisef of US social work faculty and Jamacian social workers held focus group interviews with human service providers working in government agencies, treatment centers, schools and children's home and with the parents and children living in the communities affected by the violence. The data helped the researchers to understand the socioeconomic, cultural, familial and political aspects of Jamaican culature, and the service needs of the children and families who live in West Kingston.

We will address the topics covered in the study; present the findings of our content analysis, and provide the training model developed specifically for the treatment of traumatized Jamaican children and presented to 150 Jamaican human service workers in March, 2004. We will also discuss this innovative cross cultural collaboration and how it facilitated the study, contributed to the integrity of the findings, and mutually enriched the learning experience for both the Jamaica focus group members and the US interviewers who sponsored the study. Finally, we will address the significance of qualitative research for clinical practitioners, social work students and educators who work with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds.