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The Minority Youth and Families Initiative (MYFI):

The Minority Youth and Families Initiative (MYFI): Reducing Public Child Welfare Involvement Among Native Children and Families in Sioux City, IA. Julia Kleinschmit Rembert, MSW Univ. of Iowa School of Social Work & DMC Resource Center Sioux City Campus Frank LaMere MYFI, Alliance &

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The Minority Youth and Families Initiative (MYFI):

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  1. The Minority Youth and Families Initiative (MYFI): Reducing Public Child Welfare Involvement Among Native Children and Families in Sioux City, IA Julia Kleinschmit Rembert, MSW Univ. of Iowa School of Social Work & DMC Resource Center Sioux City Campus Frank LaMere MYFI, Alliance & Community Initiative for Native Children & Families Sioux City, Iowa Pat Penning, MSW Iowa Dept. of Human Services Sioux City, Iowa Brad Richardson, Ph.D. Univ of IA School of Social Work Natl Resource Center for Family Centered Practice DMC Resource Center 100 Oakdale Campus Iowa City, Iowa 52242

  2. Presentation Outline • History of American Indian migration and experiences in Woodbury County • How efforts to address racial equity began in Woodbury County • The Context for the Work – Alliance Theory of Change • What We’ve Learned

  3. Where is Woodbury County?

  4. Location of Woodbury County • 3 States: Iowa, Nebraska & South Dakota • Nearly 30 Local Tribes

  5. Alaska Native Assiniboine Blackfeet Oklahoma Cherokee Cheyenne River Sioux Chippewa Crow Creek Sioux Fort Peck Sioux Wisconsin Ho-Chunk Hopi Mdewakontan Sioux Wisconsin Mille Lacs Mississippi Choctaw Mohawk Navajo Northern Cheyenne Oglala Sioux Omaha Potawatomie Rosebud Sioux Santee Sioux Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Spirit Lake Sioux Standing Rock Sioux Tunica-Biloxi Turtle Mountain Chippewa Nebraska Winnebago Yankton Sioux Tribal Affiliations of Native Children Assessed for Abuse,Woodbury CountyJanuary 2005-December 2007

  6. Background & History • Public Law 280, 1953 • Migration to Sioux City, Iowa • 55 years later

  7. Woodbury County Scorecard FY 06(July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2006)

  8. Today in Woodbury County (Sioux City) Iowa • Native American = 2.8% of the population • Native American children = 15.4% in foster care • 148 Native American children in the child welfare system per 1000 children in the general population

  9. Area Tribes CASA Casey/CSSP Alliance on Racial Equity Child Advocacy Center Iowa DHS Woodbury County DHS Iowa Legislature Local Human Rights Commission NICWA Native Service Providers Race Matters Consortium Recover Our Children (ROC) Sioux City Police Department Third Judicial District Tribal Council Leaders Tribal Domestic Violence workers University of Iowa University of South Dakota Woodbury County Administration Partners in Change

  10. Community Backdrop for Change • Community Initiative for Native Children and Families(CINCF) Monthly gatherings 2001-present • Recover Our Children (ROC) Memorial Marches for Lost Children began in 2003

  11. Casey Alliance: 6 Dimensions of Change • Legislation, Policy Change and Finance Reform • Research, Evaluation and Data-Based Decision-making • Youth, Parent and Community Partnership and Development • Public Will and Communication • Human Service Workforce Development • Practice Change (site-based implementation)

  12. Dimension 1: Legislation, Policy Change and Finance Reform Activities • Creation and passage of Iowa Indian Child Welfare Act: • State-funded Minority Youth and Family Initiative • State level examination of foster family licensing for processes and requirements that exclude Native Americans • Current discussion of a Iowa State Indian Commission as part of Iowa’s Human Rights Division

  13. Created to reduce overrepresentation of Native Americans and African Americans in child welfare In Sioux City, planning involves multiple systems and stakeholders, especially Native American community and Tribal members Trust, communication, and relationship issues among IDHS, courts, families, Tribes, and Native community Dimension 1: Legislation. Policy Change & Finance ReformMinority Youth and Family Initiative (MYFI): 2004 to present Broken Trust by Stanley Wanlass

  14. Increases in: Relative placements, Reunification with parents, Increase of Native American foster homes Decreases in: Termination of Parental Rights Reabuse/neglect rates Entry into the foster care system Abuse/neglect rates overall Number of placements for Native children Dimension 1: Legislation. Policy Change & Finance ReformMYFI Goal Statement Native American children are safely raised in the Native community as evidenced by:

  15. MYFI Areas of Primary Focus Dimension 1: Legislation. Policy Change & Finance Reform • Provision of culturally competent services • Use of family team meetings • Increase of Native children placed with relatives (including Tribal transfer), and • Increase in Native children • placed in Native foster homes. - Photo by National Geographic

  16. Dimension 1: Legislation. Policy Change & Finance ReformMYFI Tools • Special Native American Project Team • Emphasis on Relative/Community/Tribal Networks • Flexible resource dollar pool • New approaches to recruiting Native foster parents • Helping non-Native foster and adoptive parents become more culturally competent

  17. Dimension 1: Legislation, Policy Change and Finance Reform Accomplishments • Iowa Indian Child Welfare Act: unanimously passed by the Iowa Legislature and signed by the Governor in 2003, the second year of its introduction. • MYFI once a year-long demonstration project, now becoming institutionalized

  18. Dimension 1: Legislation, Policy Change and Finance Reform Challenges • Woodbury County Attorney’s office challenges Iowa ICWA • 1 aspect of Iowa ICWA found unconstitutional in a Supreme Court Decision

  19. Dimension 2: Research, Evaluation and Data-based Decision-makingActivities Data Collected • Minority Youth and Family Initiative: January 2004 to present • Quarterly reports • 2 annual reports: 2005 and 2006 • Quality Service Reviews: 2004 and 2007 • Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Compliance Reviews: 2004 and 2007 • Casey/Center for the Study of Social Policy Alliance on Racial Equity • Scorecard • Advocate Record • Internal Native Unit Tracking Database • Social Distance Mapping

  20. Dimension 2: Research, Evaluation and Data-based Decision-makingAccomplishments Tracking American Indian Children in Care over Time Active Woodbury County DHS Cases during the month of December 2004-2007

  21. Dimension 2: Research, Evaluation and Data-based Decision-makingAccomplishments Tracking American Indian Children in Care over Time Active Woodbury County DHS Cases during the month of December 2004-2007

  22. Dimension 2: Research, Evaluation and Data-based Decision-makingAccomplishments Tracking American Indian Children in Care over Time Active Woodbury County DHS Cases during the month of December 2004-2007

  23. Dimension 2: Research, Evaluation and Data-based Decision-makingTracking Services Provided in and out of home over timeActive Woodbury County DHS Cases during the month of December 2004-2007

  24. Dimension 2: Research, Evaluation and Data-based Decision-makingTracking Services Provided in and out of home over time Active Woodbury County DHS Cases during the month of December 2004-2007

  25. 2 ENV_I -0.18 0.82 ENV_C 0 -1.27 PAR_I -2 PAR_C -3.31 -4 -4.27 FAMINT_I -4.31 FAMINT_C -5.45 -6 FAMSAF_I -7.38 -8 FAMSAF_C -8.08 -10 CHILDWB_I -10.23 CHILDWB_C -12 Dimension 6: Practice change NCFAS Results: MYFI Year 1 +2 = clear strength +1 = mild strength 0 = baseline/ Adequate -1 = mild problem -2 = moderate problem -3 = serious problem.

  26. Dimension 6: Practice changeCFRA and CFRR: 2005 • 24 Family Assessments • CFRA: • 1 Low risk • 9 Moderate risk • 13 High risk • CFRR: • 9 Low risk • 6 Moderate risk • 8 High risk

  27. Dimension 3: Youth, Parent and Community Partnership and DevelopmentActivities • CINCF – a community collaborative, created by the American Indian community in 2001, today includes many partners • Healing and Reconciliation Day • Casey/CSSP Alliance PAYCD representation • Quality Services Review Participation

  28. Dimension 3: Youth, Parent and Community Partnership and DevelopmentAccomplishments • The work in Woodbury County began in the American Indian community, efforts have created the collaboration today which has had many accomplishments indicated throughout this presentation. • “The community is seeing action, not just words. Action helps them to deal with all the removals and terminations in the past.” Native community member • Long term, sustainable change is only achievable with equal partnership with the community

  29. Dimension 3: Youth, Parent and Community Partnership and DevelopmentAccomplishmentsTribal Intervention at Time of Child Protective Assessment (2005-2007)

  30. Dimension 3: Youth, Parent and Community Partnership and DevelopmentAccomplishmentsTribal Intervention at Time of Child Protective Assessment (2005-2007)

  31. Dimension 3: Youth, Parent and Community Partnership and DevelopmentAccomplishmentsTransfer of Jurisdiction to Tribe at Time of Child Protective Assessment (2005-2007)

  32. Dimension 3: Youth, Parent and Community Partnership and DevelopmentAccomplishmentsTransfer of Jurisdiction to Tribe at Time of Child Protective Assessment (2005-2007)

  33. Dimension 3: Youth, Parent and Community Partnership and DevelopmentChallenges • Riding out the peaks and valleys of the changing relationship between a control system and the community • Seeing the toughest cases as learning opportunities • Maintaining trust

  34. Dimension 4: Public Will and CommunicationActivities • National Indian Child Welfare Association Conferences in 2007 and 2008: Get on the bus! • Undoing Racism Training • Update to legislators and community, including blanket ceremony for legislator who championed Iowa ICWA: 2007 • Woodbury County DHS presents at Annual Memorial March for Lost Children: 2006, 2007

  35. Dimension 4: Public Will and CommunicationAccomplishments • Continued Expansion of CINCF Representation • Alliance Promising Practices Site • Governor’s Recognition & Request for other Directors to Visit Woodbury County (Iowa Workforce Development, Iowa Department of Economic Development, Iowa Finance Authority (Housing) and others)

  36. Dimension 4: Public Will and CommunicationChallenges • Communicating project progress internally and externally • Audience • Data • Format • Frequency • Leveraging support from systems players that have considerable power (e.g. courts)

  37. Dimension 4: Public Will and Communication Disproportionality Diagnostic Tool (Baseline 2006)

  38. Dimension 5: Human Service Workforce Development Activities • Cultural Competence Training • National Indian Child Welfare Association annual conferences • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Conference (co-sponsored by Mercy Medical Center’s Child Advocacy Center) • Children’s Bureau Trainings: Youth in Transition & Recruitment and Retention • Wellbriety • Fatherhood is Sacred Program (Ho-Chunk Nation) • Beyond the Addiction: A Community Uprising • Indian Child Welfare Act 25 Years Later • Iowa ICWA in-service by one of the authors of Iowa ICWA • Understanding ICWA’s true intention (for workers, judges, attorneys): Judge Thorne

  39. Dimension 5: Human Service Workforce DevelopmentAccomplishments • Funding of Native-provided services through the Sioux City Indian Education Committee in 2007 • Greater communication with Tribal child welfare workers. “They are consulting with the Tribes where they hadn’t done that in the past. There has been a dramatic change for the positive. They have the Tribe involved in decision making and working as a team instead of being in left and right field. If the Woodbury County Attorney would get on the team, things would be even better.” Tribal Child Welfare Worker

  40. Dimension 5: Human Service Workforce DevelopmentChallenges • Maintaining commitment from workers to using culturally competent practices over the long haul • Organizational capacity of area providers (Native and not) to provide culturally-competent and relevant services in multiple areas: substance abuse, mental health, in-home services, etc. • “More Native providers would be helpful . . .” Guardian Ad Litem

  41. Dimension 6: Practice change (site-based implementation)Activities • Special Native American Project Team (MYFI) • Child Welfare System Navigator • SCIEC Community Advocate (Federal Grant)

  42. Members: Native family liaison Native tribal liaison Supervisor Social workers Child Protection workers Adoptions worker Provides active efforts to all children self-identified as Native. Lower caseloads: allow workers to know their families better Working with relatives immediately Connecting with Tribes early and often Native Liaisons involved with case from point of CPS contact. Dimension 6: Practice change The Woodbury County DHS SNAP Teamfor American Indian children in out of home care

  43. Dimension 6: Practice changeAccomplishmentsListening to Families Served : MYFI Report 2006 Interviews with 10 client families: “The DHS Native American Unit helped by having our family take the situation into our own hands and learn how the system works. The workers stood behind us and advocated for us, and helped us contact the Yankton Tribe for help too.” “ . . . I was surprised that they gave me a chance to participate in placement for my niece because of my past history with DHS. People change and the Unit recognized that and gave me a chance.”

  44. Dimension 6: Practice change (site-based implementation)Accomplishments • Increased use of healing ceremonies, sweats, and other culturally competent practices. • “DHS is more receptive to trying new services . . . A year or two ago, sending families to Flowering Tribe (substance abuse treatment for Oglalla Sioux women with children) would have been unheard of and now it’s considered part of a service option menu.” Guardian Ad Litem

  45. Dimension 6: Practice change “I got my granddaughter back in my home and I’m waiting to hear from the Tribe to go to Tribal court. The workers helped me until the end. The Unit workers know their job and the support from the Unit made a difference.” “There is an understanding of how I live, my culture, my values, and my ethics. It helped me to be honest with DHS, and they did not look at me negatively.” “Although it took two yearsin the system, I got my children back in my home. Today, I find it harder to get services because I am not drinking. I don’t like the way the system is set up so you can only get help if you are messed up.”

  46. Dimension 6: Practice change (site-based implementation)Challenges • Caseload increases • “Caseloads were intended to be low –they’ve gone up because we have ongoing families and redesigning the system (has had an affect).” DHS worker • Organizational capacity of area providers (Native and not) to provide culturally-competent and relevant services in multiple areas: substance abuse, mental health, in-home services, etc.

  47. A Look at Systems Relationships Over Timeas they work to impact Child Welfare System Involvement • Eco-maps of the past, present and future • Key: Strong/supportive relationship Tenuous/weak relationship Conflictive/harmful relationship New element

  48. Woodbury County, (Sioux City) IA, Pre-1995 Healthcare Schools Woodbury County DHS Extended Family Tribes Federal Policy: ICWA State Policy Law Enforcement Mental Health Services Employment Disproportional Representation of Native American Children in Woodbury County DHS Culture & Spirituality Court/ Legal Community Advocates Substance Abuse Services Housing Racism, Historical Oppression and Genocide Racism, Historical Oppression and Genocide

  49. Woodbury County, (Sioux City) IA, 2008 Woodbury County DHS Healthcare Schools Extended Family Tribes: varied response Employment Law Enforcement Greater Equity and more proportional representation, of Native American Children in Woodbury County DHS State DHS National Attention Culture & Spirituality Federal Policy: ICWA, ASFA, JJDP, CFSR, MEPA Community Advocates Court/ Legal JCS State Policy: MYFI, IA ICWA Substance Abuse Services Mental Health Housing Interest from other Stakeholders Culturally competent /NA provided health, mental health, and SA Services Casey Alliance Racism, Historical Oppression and Genocide

  50. Tomorrow in Woodbury County, Iowa Today, members of the Native American Community, the local child welfare system and other collaborative members all agree there is some progress toward a more racially equitable child welfare system for Native American children and families in Woodbury County, Iowa. The last slide shows how we look to the future………………………………………

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