Tribal Court Improvement Program - The Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau announces the availability of awards to provide Tribes and Tribal consortia the opportunity to compete for grants to enable Tribal courts to:

• Conduct assessments of how Tribal courts handle child welfare proceedings and to make improvements to court processes to provide for the safety, permanency, and well-being of children as set forth in the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) and increase and improve engagement of the entire family in court processes relating to child welfare, family preservation, family reunification and adoption;
• Ensure children's safety, permanence, and well-being needs are met in a timely and complete manner (through better collection and analysis of data); and
• Provide for training of judges, attorneys, and legal personnel in child welfare cases.

Eligibility Category: The government of Indian Tribes and Tribal consortia that: are operating an approved title IV-E program in accordance with section 479B of The Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act, Pub. L. 112-34 (the Act); or plan to operate a title IV-e program and have received a title IV-E plan development grant, as authorized by section 476 of the Act; or have a court responsible for proceedings related to foster care or adoption (section 438(c)(3)(A)(iv) of the Act). Current Closing Date for Applications: July 09, 2012. Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.

Are you looking for a new career opportunity?

Do you want to work for an agency that values Wisconsin's children and families?

Would you like to make a difference in the lives of Wisconsin's Native American Indian children and families?

Then come join the Department of Children and Families team!

The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is seeking well-qualified, knowledgeable candidates who will be responsible for the planning, policy development, administration and coordination of Department programs for Wisconsin Native American Indians. These programs cut across agency bodies, geographic and functional program jurisdictions at the state and federal levels as well as encompassing various state and federal laws.

DCF is located on East Washington Avenue in the heart of downtown Madison, near the state capitol and the Madison Metro route. In addition, there is an on-site cafeteria and plenty of nearby restaurants and shopping venues. For more information about DCF, visit our website at http://dcf.wi.gov/.

Job Duties: The Tribal Liaison plans and coordinates the activities of the Department staff that provide program management, technical assistance, program support and monitoring. The position is responsible for assuring quality services are integrated, available, and efficiently delivered to Tribal communities. The Tribal Liaison provides leadership by facilitating a dynamic consultation process with Tribes in systems development, quality improvement, development and compliance with quality outcomes and measurement, and implementation of initiatives and policies.

Job Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:  Ability to work effectively with the leaders of sovereign tribal nations and complex government to government relationships; write and speak clearly and effectively; form and maintain positive working relationships with Department units and state agencies to support program collaboration and coordination of efforts with tribes; analyze administrative data and fiscal reports; lead teams and workgroups; facilitate problem resolution, including identifying solutions and negotiating agreement among parties; and provide technical assistance to tribal agencies on effective delivery of services.

Knowledge of the political, cultural and social status of Tribal governments and Native American experience; children and family services, including child welfare, TANF/W-2, child support and child care subsidy; other programs impacting children and families, such as mental health, substance abuse, economic support, workforce development, health care, developmental disabilities, juvenile justice and the legal system; and the principles and practice of public administration.

For complete information and application instructions, go to:

http://wisc.jobs/public/job_view.asp?annoid=57992&jobid=57507&index=true

Application deadline: June 6, 2012

By Matt Andazola / Albuquerque Journal, May 6, 2012

Years ago, Carol Ricotta’s father made a cradleboard for her first son. She said her son loved it, wrapped in a blanket and strapped with leather cords to two flat boards with a wooden halo over his head.

The boy grew up, and Ricotta, who is Navajo, used the cradleboard as a wall decoration for decades.

But since about four years ago, the cradleboard has been back in use as Carol and her husband, Terry Ricotta, began taking foster kids into their home. The cradleboard comforts babies, most of whom are American Indian.

“I think more Natives need to stand up and have a culture for these kids to experience,” she said, “even if we’re not part of the same tribe.”

The state needs American Indian foster care parents like Carol Ricotta, say officials in the Children, Youth and Families Department.

The need stems from the federal 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which mandates how child welfare agencies place children.

As with children of any ethnicity, the act requires an agency to try to place children with family members first. If family members are unwilling or fail a background check, then the agency tries to place the children with a member of the same tribe as the child, then a member of any American Indian tribe. If a home still can’t be found, children can be placed with foster parents of another ethnicity.

It’s important to keep American Indian children in American Indian homes “because it’s family. Family taking care of family,” said Brenda Valle, a foster mom in Farmington who is also Navajo. All of the American Indian foster children who have stayed in her home have been related to her in one way or another, Valle said.

“I’ve enjoyed opening the children’s eyes to a different lifestyle,” Valle said, “and how different healthy lifestyles can be a contributing influence on their own.”

But there simply aren’t enough homes in New Mexico right now, especially in Bernalillo, San Juan and McKinley counties. In Bernalillo County, 56 of the 65 American Indian children are in homes headed by other ethnicities; in San Juan, it’s 23 of 58; and in McKinley, it’s 34 of 70.

“We’re scrambling to find the homes, in combination with the child’s tribe or pueblo,” said Jared Rounsville, director of state Child Protective Services. In New Mexico, he said, American Indians are overrepresented in the foster system, “though it’s not a drastic over-representation like it is in some states.”

In Bernalillo County, American Indians made up about 15 percent of the 255 children in state custody in April-June 2011, according to CYFD records. That rate is more than twice the amount they make up in the county’s population as a whole.

CYFD officials do work with tribes and pueblos to place children on reservations if possible, but proper homes can be as difficult to find on reservations as off, said Nichole Garcia, the department’s San Juan County office manager.

Many tribes and pueblos have their own child welfare systems responsible for children on reservations, so the CYFD children usually come from urban areas.

The only time CYFD intervenes in child abuse cases on reservations is when those cases involve non-American Indian families, Garcia said.

Garcia, who has been working with CYFD in San Juan County for about 19 years, said Native children face extra hurdles in the foster system.

For instance, if a child is placed in a non-American Indian home but the department finds an American Indian home within a year, the child must be moved.

Then there’s the issue of what tribe or pueblo a child belongs to: Often, children have an affiliation registered, but sometimes the department makes the decision based on the mother’s affiliation.

Sometimes there are legal battles between tribes that may result in a child being moved from home to home without much warning.

That’s what happened to a former foster daughter of the Ricottas, who was suddenly claimed by her father’s tribe. They had 45 minutes to take her home, pack her things and send her on her way.

“That’s the hardest part,” said Carol Ricotta, who is raising two adopted and three foster children. “I have my emotional moments when I have to let them go.”

When placing children, CYFD takes other factors into consideration, too. For instance, it’s often important not to remove children from schools or communities, so it might make sense to find a family nearby rather than an American Indian family in another area.

“It really depends on individual case factors,” Garcia said.

No matter where you look in the state, Rounsville said, Native foster care providers are needed. The process of becoming a foster parent requires a four-week training course and up to six months of home visits and licensing.

Foster parents are reimbursed for many of the expenses of raising their children, and there are no prerequisites to becoming a foster parent, such as marital or financial status.

“Being a single parent,” Valle said, “I know I don’t have the financials to entertain or provide so much. But I know the things I’ve learned growing up on the reservation. There are creative ways of being a part of Mother Nature. It essentially comes back to that lifestyle we’re trying to put back in a child’s life.”

60 percent of the 1,600 children in state care are Alaska Native

By Kate McPherson

The grant may be used for costs relating to the development of data collection systems, a cost allocation methodology, agency and tribal court procedures necessary to meet the case review system requirements under Section 475(5) of the Act, or any other costs attributable to meeting any other requirement necessary for approval of a title IV-E plan. Current Closing Date for Applications: July 10, 2012.  Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.

Utah » Officials try to keep children in their homes, out of system.

By Brooke Adams | The Salt Lake Tribune

True, there has been a vast improvement in out-of-home placements over those decades. In 1976, two years before passage of the act, American Indian children in Utah were 1,500 percent more likely to be in foster care than other children in the state, said Utah Appeals Court Judge William Thorne, who spoke March 16 at the first Indian Child Welfare Conference to be held in Salt Lake City.

Today, American Indian children are four times more likely to be in foster care, a rate still significant enough to place Utah in the top 10 states for disproportionate rates.

"They are better than they were, but they’re not where they need to be yet," said Thorne, who is a member of the Pomo tribe and serves on the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care. "The children are still out of home more often than necessary."

The conference drew members of every tribe in Utah, judges, caseworkers, foster parents and even a state lawmaker to ponder why that is the case and what to do about it. Brent Platt, director of the state Division of Child and Family Services, opened the dialogue last spring when he met with elders in a two-day peace circle gathering to air views of child welfare.

"I feel like we need to do a better job with our Native American kids," said Platt, especially along the Wasatch Front where the bulk of the state’s American Indian population resides.

American Indians comprise just 1 percent of Utah’s population but make up 6 percent of all children in foster care. Thorne said cultural differences, rather than racism, are likely behind the numbers. Two-thirds of children are in foster care because of neglect rather than abuse, which Thorne pointed out is often subjective and amounts to "someone decided their own family was not good enough."

That notion was amplified in Utah through the federal boarding school program and the Indian Placement Program, which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operated between 1947 and 1996, he said. Through the program, thousands of American Indian children were placed in Mormon homes, where it was thought they would receive better educations and be easily assimilated into mainstream society. But critics said it undermined tribal ties and a sense of identity.

Thorne said one study found that American Indian kids raised in non-Indian homes were more likely to have a negative view of their own culture, leading researchers to conclude the children were left without positive images of their own heritage. Another troubling sign: American Indian youths have a suicide rate that is 1.5 to three times higher than that for children from other ethnic groups in the U.S. When considering just American Indian youths, the rate is six times higher for those living in non-Indian homes, according to one report.

"We really need to be thinking about doing things a different way," said Thorne, especially given the outcomes for children who age out of foster care. They are more likely to be undereducated, to have a mental disorder or post-traumatic stress syndrome and to end up homeless, in jail or dead within two years.

From Indian Country Today

“In the best interests of the child…”

You will not see this phrase in the language of the first tribal foster care and guardianship program to be eligible for federal payments under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act.

For the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, caring for its children means a broader concern for the whole community.

“There’s a lot of federal language that’s historically been used against Indian children,” said Andrea Smith, the attorney for the tribe’s Children and Family Services. “Historically, ‘in the best interests of the child’ was usually used to pull children out of their homes. We don’t use that language in our code.”

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe has about 1,226 enrolled members and is located in the northern portion of the Kitsap Peninsula surrounded by the Puget Sound.

It applied for, and is the first tribe to receive, approval from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to get federal funding for its foster/guardianship/adoption program. Tribes have been eligible for the approval as of October 2009, when Public Law 110-351 went into effect and provided tribes with the option to operate foster care, adoption assistance and kinship guardianship assistance programs, according to the Federal Register.

The Port Gamble S’Klallam have 18 licensed homes, on and off the reservation, for foster or guardianship care. Currently 28 children who are tribal members are in out-of-home care, often within the children’s own extended families.

“One hundred percent of our kids are in our program,” said Jolene Sullivan George, director of the tribe’s Children and Family Services. “So we’re not losing any of our kids, which historically had been an issue. They are maintained within the community.”

Before Public Law 110-351 took effect, Port Gamble S’Klallam children who needed foster care would be placed in homes licensed by the state, usually outside the tribal community, sometimes for most of their childhood. Many adult tribal members related stories of growing up completely separated from their culture and feeling lost when they turned 18 and left foster care.

“We have one elder specifically who has been pretty vocal about her experience in foster care,” said George. “As an adult, she didn’t even know where her family was from. For her to come back home here to the reservation was very exciting for her. She didn’t have the connection to the community any more. Several other adults have had similar experiences.”

The tribe already had a Title IV-E intergovernmental agreement with the state of Washington, so the transition should be smooth, George said. “We actually have a wonderful working relationship with Washington state. We have always been able to work with any issues that came up.”

Some care arrangements through the tribal program place children into the home of other relatives. Those relatives can then get assistance to continue caring for the children, which had not been the case in the past.

“We’re a pretty small community, pretty close-knit,” George said. “We don’t see kids bounce around from home to home because of the level of support we can provide.”

Staying on the reservation keeps children connected to the community and to their families, even if the parents are not capable of being the primary caregivers. “Their parents are never really completely out of the picture,” George said. “By keeping them connected, our kids don’t get that feeling of loss.”

Some off-reservation homes licensed by the Port Gamble S’Klallam’s Children and Family Services might be called upon to take children who are not tribal members, she said. “The state borrows beds from us.”

Not all licensed homes are tribal members. For instances, some families of the nearby Suquamish Tribe are licensed for foster care through the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. “Generally people who apply for the program are closely connected to our community,” George said. Some have family members in both tribes.

The Children and Family Services staff will not increase with the new duties, she said. One staff member was moved from the tribal welfare program to specialize in the Title IV-E program. “We’re anxious to start claiming for her time,” George said. Now that the tribe has the ACF approval, it can get federal funding to help cover the cost of that position as well as money to help the families with the children.

Meanwhile, the tribe continues to build its program that serves the “best interests” of its children and its community. “We have case managers, we have our own tribal codes,” said Smith. “We have our own program that’s very culturally appropriate.”