Training for Effective Child Welfare Practice in Rural Communities

Site visit reportTraining for Effective Child Welfare Practice in Rural CommunitiesLa Chundra Thomas, Children’s Bureau Federal Project Officer Jack Denniston, site visitor Project infor

Site visit reportTraining for Effective Child Welfare Practice in Rural Communities

La Chundra Thomas, Children’s Bureau Federal Project Officer

Jack Denniston, site visitor

Project information

 Children’s Bureau Funding Announcement: Training for Effective Child Welfare

Practice in Rural Communities

 Award #: 90CT00110

 Project title: Tribal STAR: Addressing the Needs of Rural Native American Foster

Youth

 Grantee: San Diego State University School of Social Work

 Tribal STAR partners:

o Indian Health Council

o Iipaay Nation of Santa Ysabel Social Services Department

o Southern Indian Health Council

o San Diego HHSA: Indian Specialty Unit & Independent Living Unit

o Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association, Intertribal Court

o YMCA Youth & Family Services

o South Bay Community Services

o San Diego Youth & Community Services

 Project Director:

Dr Anita HarbertDirector, San Diego State University School of Social Work Tribal STAR Principal Investigator

Academy for Professional Excellence

6505 Alvarado Road, Ste 107 San Diego, CA 92120

(619) 594-5724

aharbert@mail.sdsu.edu

 Project Coordinator:

Dana AllenAcademy for Professional Excellence

6505 Alvarado Road, Ste 107 San Diego, CA 92120

(619) 594-3192

dallen@projects.sdsu.edu

 Approved project period: 10/01/2003-09/30/2008

 Other projects funded under this priority area

o Southwest Missouri State University

o Portland State University

o Sonoma State University

o Texas State University – San Marcos

o University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Abstract (adapted from their grant application) Rural Native American foster youth

are at risk They are unique from other foster youth in that they have access to fewer economic and educational advantages and they have the dual burden of having to learn skills that are culturally sensitive and applicable in their rural tribal communities as well

as in mainstream America These unique issues have led to troubling outcomes for many Native American youth

The primary goal of our project is to improve the outcomes of rural Native American foster youth This will be accomplished through the development and implementation of two comprehensive, competency-based collaborative training programs, one for frontline staff, and the other for supervisory child welfare staff The training will be developed with input from a variety of Native American voices, including youth, tribal leaders, frontline workers, and professionals The training will provide participants with a solid understanding of the Indian Child Welfare Act, unique challenges associated with

working with rural populations, the importance of operating from a position of cultural competency, the importance of collaboration, the fundamental components of the youth development philosophy, the developmental tasks of normal adolescents, challenges youth face, and assessment

Training will occur locally, and throughout the state of California A particular emphasis will be placed on recruiting trainers of Native American descent In addition, Social Workstudents across the State of California will also be trained Communities will be offered technical assistance to aid them as they work to build collaboration and implement the training Pre- post-tests (knowledge surveys) will be conducted for each training

Demographic and consumer satisfaction data will also be collected In addition,

information about the curricula will be distributed across the state of CA, and all

materials will be available via the web

Need for this Program (adapted from their grant application)

California now has the largest Native American population in the nation In addition, California is the State with the largest number of foster youth Rural children and familiesare often isolated and do not have ready access to a variety of services Due to their rural upbringing, they often face fewer economic and educational advantages Given this dual burden of foster care and rural status, California foster youth are at risk In addition, whenrural children and families are of Native American descent, they have added challenges including their minority status and cultural differences, which in turn renders their

transition to adulthood more difficult Native Americans also have the dual burden of having to learn skills that are culturally sensitive and applicable in their tribal

communities as well as in mainstream America

These unique issues have led to troubling outcomes for many Native Americans

Relative to the general population, Native American youth have shown higher rates of depression, suicide, anxiety disorders, alcohol and substance abuse, high school dropout,

and higher rates of out-of-home placement In addition, Native American mothers are more likely to have their first child when they are under the age of 20.

As detailed in the results of three comprehensive studies, emancipated foster youth are not adequately prepared to make it on their own: 37-46% of youth have not completed high school, 25-52% are unemployed, 12-35% are homeless, and 32-47% receive public assistance Given these issues and their higher rate of out of home placement, one would assume that Native American foster youth would receive services through independent living programs, yet, Native American children comprised less than one percent of youth served by independent living programs in fiscal year 1996 This data strongly suggests that intervention is necessary

In order to improve the outcomes of Native American foster youth, one viable

intervention option is to thoroughly train those service providers working with the youth Service providers need to be knowledgeable about the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), cultural issues and risk factors that are unique and/or heightened for some Native

American rural youth In addition practitioners need knowledge of the resources available

to them through other agencies and must collaborate to ensure that the needs of all NativeAmerican foster youth are adequately met These needs must be addressed via a

strengths-based approach to working with families, and within the guidelines of the youthdevelopment philosophy, which puts youth at the center of any proposed intervention A curriculum that integrates all of these aspects of unique challenges faced by Native American foster youth could prove invaluable to social service providers in rural areas and the youth that they serve

These additional needs were identified by the project team during the site visit:

 Reservations tend to be very rural and inaccessible, with few services available

 Life is very hard for Native American children in the child welfare system In Native American culture, family is the heart of who one is So when Tribal children are removed their identity is lost Often, when they come back to the reservation they are treated like outsiders

 Some Native American youth are not able to live successfully in either world They need to see good role models in the Tribal context, on the reservation Otherwise all they see is the media stereotype

 Independent Living (IL) Program staff felt they were not meeting Native American needs, but they didn’t know what they didn’t know They were not making

connections and they were taking youth out of their element IL information wasn’t getting to the right people, so Tribal youth were not getting the help they needed They want to prepare them to come back, and have them visiting the reservation more Tribal STAR is helping with this

 San Diego State University had a Children’s Bureau IL grant from 2000-03 They provided foster youth training, including training of Tribal youth Two Tribal

consortia were represented on their advisory board Yet they felt the needs of Tribal youth were not adequately met, and they wanted to do more They co-wrote the proposal for the current project with Tribal representatives

 Native American people in the child welfare system are not always recognized This project has illuminated the need for greater cross cultural awareness and

communication

 Training on working with Native Americans has traditionally focused on ICWA and meeting its requirements, “the letter of the law” Through a grant received from CalSWEC (California Social Work Education Center) by the Public Child Welfare Training Academy (a program of the Academy for Professional Excellence), Tribal

STAR collaborated in the development of The Other Side of ICWA which is intended

to address “the spirit of the law” It addresses issues missing from traditional training that are essential for successful implementation of ICWA This new training adds the whole cultural component Otherwise the media stereotype of Native Americans prevails At the time of the site visit, the project team was preparing to pilot this training at the upcoming State ICWA Conference in June, 2007

Summary of Major Accomplishments to Date

 They believe their greatest accomplishments are the connections, relationships, and networks that are forming They started with four partner organizations: Indian HealthCouncil, Inc (a consortium of nine tribes in the north county), Southern Indian Health, Inc (a consortium of seven tribes in the southeastern county), San Diego County Department of Health and Human Services Indian Specialty Unit and Indian Child & Family Services of Temecula, CA The partnerships have grown to eight, adding the the Iipaay Nation of Santa Ysabel, the Southern California Tribal

Chairmen’s Association, Inter-Tribal Court, the Independent Living Unit of the San Diego County Department of Health and Human Services and its contractors, South Bay Community Services, YMCA Youth & Family Services, San Diego Youth & Community Services.As organizations began participating regularly in the Tribal STAR work group, they were invited to become partners The Tribal partners are identified on the front page of all publications

 Building relationships with the legal system and courts wasn’t in the original plan, but

in doing outreach for their training, they developed a relationship with a coalition led

by a superior court judge This led to the development of the Checklist for Judges

When Placing Indian Youth in Non-Indian Homes (see attached) The Checklist for Judges was developed to help judges determine the best circumstances surrounding

the placement of a child in a non-Indian home to strengthen the potential for a

 They have finished developing curricula and have delivered it One version is for

frontline workers and is called, Creating Connections: The Gathering, the other one

is for directors, managers and supervisors and is called, Creating Connections: The

Summit Both modules include participant manuals, a Reflections journal, and a

resource CD

 At the time of the site visit they were starting a Train the Trainer program

Participants especially like the mediation training, which is being included in the trainthe trainer module

 Training participants are gaining knowledge There are now people in the field who can do this advocacy and training in their own units, so training infiltrates the

workplace

 A modified version of the curriculum has been presented to MSW students Project staff is talking with CALSWEC at University of California at Berkeley about infusingTribal STAR into the Statewide MSW curriculum via participation in the Statewide MSW Student Day and by facilitating a Statewide Faculty Institute

 They have worked with the Public Child Welfare Training Academy to develop The

Other Side of ICWA training This addresses the spirit of the law: relationship

building, identifying and engaging Indian children, and resources for native foster youth The training will be piloted at the CA ICWA Conference in June, 2007

 They have developed a project website: http://theacademy.sdsu.edu/TribalSTAR

 They are publishing a quarterly newsletter: Tribal STAR Drumbeats.

 They have developed 3 digital stories, which are first hand accounts of Tribal youth and parents in the child welfare system

 There is a big demand for technical assistance (TA), which has now become a

significant componentof their workload

Highlights of the site visit

The visit took place at the offices of the Academy for Professional Excellence, San DiegoState University School of Social Work on May 22nd, 2007 and in the meeting room at theHealth Clinic on the Iipaay Nation of Santa Ysabel reservation on May 23rd

The May 22 meeting included the following Tribal STAR staff:

 Dana Allen, Program Coordinator

 Tom Lidot, Curriculum Coordinator

 Margaret Orrantia, Assistant Coordinator

 Jennifer Tucker-Tatlow, Associate Director of the Academy for Professional

Excellence

 James Coloma, Evaluator

 Dr Anita Harbert, Director of the School of Social Work and project Principal

Investigator

 Amy Okamura, Professor with the School of Social Work and project Faculty Advisor

On Wednesday, May 23, the Tribal STAR team and the site visitor traveled to the Iipaay Nation of Santa Ysabel reservation for a meeting at the Tribal Health Center During the first part of the meeting, San Diego County DSS staff shared basic information with the Tribal community about the CFSR/PIP process Their county PIP is called their System

Improvement Plan (SIP), which is overseen by Leesa Rosenberg The county

representatives were:

 Leesa Rosenberg, Program Manager, San Diego County Child Welfare Services

 Moses Savar, San Diego County Child Welfare Services

Then these Tribal STAR partners shared their impressions and answered questions about the project:

 Linda Ruis – Iipaay Nation of Santa Ysabel Dept of Social Services

 Carol Banegas – Southern Indian Health Council

 Karan Kolb – Indian Health Council

 Temet Aguilar – Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association, Intertribal Court

 Robert White – San Diego County Indian Specialty Unit

 Rhonda Sarmiento – San Diego County Independent Living Unit

 Christiana Tasto & Monica Bertola – Independent Living contract providers (from theYMCA Youth & Family Services)

Unique and innovative features

 The project is designed to improve outcomes for Tribal foster youth, and to improve relations between the Tribal and non-Tribal community They focus on Native

American youth in foster care- their preparation and transition to adulthood The project is creating a safe space where networks can come together

 Project staff feels everything that they have done has had to be innovative or else theywould not have had an audience to work with

 They have developed 2 curricula with participant manuals- one for Tribal and Tribal Directors, managers and Supervisors (Tribal STAR Summit), and one for Tribal and Non-Tribal Frontline Workers (Tribal STAR Gathering) The frontline worker manual contains the following sections-

Non-o AcknNon-owledgements

o Earth Walker (Poem)

o My Clan

o Connections and Collaboration

o History and Purpose of Tribal STAR Program and Gathering

o Connection and Loss

o Historical Context of American Indians

o American Indian Values and Culture

o Walking in Their Moccasins

o Stepping Into the Circle

o Honoring the Seasons of Change

o Identifying Services for Tribal Youth

o Collaboration vs Coordination vs Cooperation

o Applying Strengths and Addressing Barriers to Improve Outcomes

o Stepping Into the Circle

 Each training participant is given an attractive Journal to document feelings and action steps They are also given a Resource CD, which makes it easier for trainees toshare what they’ve learned with colleagues, makes materials easy to duplicate and provides context The CD has music by Elk Whistle This music plays while the user

is reading the materials on the CD Their website

http://theacademy.sdsu.edu/TribalSTAR is being re-done so it will be more like the resource CD

 Their technical assistance (TA) work now encompasses a significant portion of the workload They provide TA to reinforce the training, facilitate transfer of learning, connect the training and the child welfare community, and provide assistance with ICWA cases They get calls for help with connections, collaboration, and community Many participants ask for help with next steps in engagement and building

relationships Project staff provides coaching on what to do “after you get your foot inthe door” This TA leads to and promotes transfer of learning from the training into practice

 The site visitor attended a project-sponsored CFSR 101 session for tribal leaders It was developed in response to new tribal interest in the CFSR/PIP/SIP (SIP is the county System Improvement Plan) process, which was expressed at a Tribal STAR workgroup meeting There was a sense that, up to now, CFSR Tribal engagement has not been relational or meaningful The workgroup sees this as one more way for Tribal STAR partners to engage with county child welfare staff The goal of this meeting was to have a safe but real dialog County staff presented information and answered questions CA’s 1st PIP closes October 2007 and their 2nd CFSR review is in February 2008 There has been some Tribal stakeholder involvement, but they feel more is needed The Native American leaders at this meeting were not aware of the new services and resources that CA’s PIP (through San Diego county’s SIP) has put inplace They asked lots of questions and were told that more information would be posted on the Tribal STAR web site They discussed the new safety assessment tool and issues with rural family visitation and Native American and back country culture They discussed the need for over-rides, a Native American attachment, training for Native American social workers, and what to do when parents live on the reservation and foster parents live in a town far away They also discussed other SIP initiatives related to Native American children, youth and families One tribal leader expressed disappointment that these are the very things Native Americans have been wanting foryears, yet they didn’t happen until now Another noted that Native American ideas shouldn’t have had to wait until the CFSR legitimized them, but acknowledged that there is now an opportunity and a responsibility for Native Americans to participate inthe SIP process DSS staff acknowledged these statements and committed to trying to

do better with the next round of CA’s CFSR Another Tribal leader stated that while it has been hard for Tribal child welfare staff to participate in the CFSR, Tribal STAR has helped a lot with this At the present time the systemic issue of overrepresentation

is being addressed by a fairness and equity (F&E) initiative Last year the F&E committee focused on the African American community, and this year they will be focusing on the Native American community Tribal leaders stated that these meetingsneed to be held on the reservations, Tribal STAR agreed to help with this, and DSS staff asked the group if they wished to have their own F&E committee, to which they

responded affirmatively Since the next round of CFSRs will have more of a focus on Tribes, next steps will include a closer look at CFSR data on Native Americans CA’s next self-assessment starts this summer and their next peer case review is in 2008 They want to bring in more community partners The group scheduled their next several meetings and arranged for materials to be sent out to everyone Project staff recognizes the need for Tribal leaders to be more informed and involved, and to access resources They discussed the many reasons why information doesn’t get to thepeople who need it They plan to help get the F&E committee going There is a growing understanding that this is a good way to find out about services and

resources that are available For example, they learned about foster parent training at this meeting Tribal leaders felt there needed to be on-going meetings before the county could say Tribes are now engaged They appreciate the renewed focus on IL services for tribal youth They see their next steps as being more informed, being more involved in the CFSR process, setting up an F&E committee, and being more aware of what is going on in the county The group expressed their appreciation to DSS staff for coming out to the reservation for this meeting

 Independent Living (IL) training is now being provided on the reservation This cameabout as a result of the Tribal STAR IL Forum At this forum Chafee requirements regarding Tribal youth were addressed State and local IL staff presented and 40-50 people attended As a result there was recognition of the need for IL classes on the reservation The YMCA is now providing these classes They put together a panel of adults who had come through the foster care system One recalled that when she was

an 18 year old child living on the reservation, she knew her rights Because of this shewas able to help other kids, including her cousin, and help them access resources Another youth talked about how youth wanted social workers to listen to them and Tribal STAR gave them this opportunity IL is helping Tribal youth increase their self esteemThey believe it is important for the youth to remain connected with their community so they will see their lives within the Tribal context on the reservation This will also give them healthy Tribal role models rather than the distorted view of Tribal people often portrayed in the media

 They are finding that the process of identifying Tribal youth can in effect become a litmus test on how acculturated the youth is, which helps them to develop an

appropriate case plan for the family and youth

 They have engaged with the judicial community The superior court judge requested achecklist of the things judges need to remember when they place an Indian youth in a non-Indian home A copy of this checklist is attached Several tribes in CA have gotten funding to develop their own court system This means a change of

jurisdiction, which has resulted in much discussion between Tribal chairs, and the Tribal court

 It has been the experience of project partners that ICWA training typically doesn’t achieve the desired outcome They feel the focus has typically been on the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of the law This knowledge and experience led to the

development of a new curriculum, The Other Side of ICWA It is focused on the spirit

of the law- context building, relationship building, how to engage Indian families, how to identify youth and resources This effort was funded through CalSWEC and atthe time of the site visit there were plans to pilot it at the State ICWA conference

Challenges and Lessons Learned

 In order to be effective Tribal STAR had to engage the Tribal community, but they found that it can be difficult for a non-Tribal entity to do work with Tribes They havelearned that only a few Tribal leaders may come to a first meeting For some

participants, this is their first time to self-identify as Native Americans, or as being associated with Indian child welfare They have learned that it is necessary to do whatever it takes to engage Tribes A strengths-based approach is proving to be most effective and they have found that integrity is essential They had to evolve their own relationships and do their own cross cultural outreach so that internally they were walking the walk and not just talking the talk Everything that is done needs to be done with respect A lot of effort went into development

 There is a deep history of distrust and they found it important to address that history from the Tribal perspective Tribes view Universities as a part of the educational system that took away their children’s culture, wrote about them without engaging them, put their sacred objects in museums, and still uses caricatures of them as team mascots This distrust is not always apparent, but there is a significant public relationspiece that is critical to the success of everything the project does It has proven

difficult to develop Native Americans who can do this training The model requires partnership, but schools of social work don’t have many Native American students, because there is a lot of negative history to overcome

 The target population for this project is rural Native American youth In San Diego County many Native American youth in foster care live in urban areas, and the project’s statewide approach to addressing the needs of rural Native American youth required an integration of urban/assimilated youth There is movement between communities, and the work impacts both They have found they need to work with everyone who works with the target population San Diego State University had previously done IL work, so they thought it would be relatively quick and easy to transfer that work to Tribes They found they had to make a lot of changes This was amajor shift and it took a whole year They try to involve youth wherever they go, but that has proven challenging So at the time of the site visit they were creating 3 digitalstories – 2 of which are youth stories Their plan is to provide all Tribal STAR

trainees with this digital story series

 They have found they need to be strategic with their approach, while allowing time for participants’ hearts and spirits to be in the right place It is sometimes difficult to get people in right frame of mind, so they will follow through They originally

proposed an ambitious timeline, but found it took longer than expected to build relationships When working cross culturally they have had to allow more time for everything At first they were trying to push an agenda when the community wasn’t ready for it They found they needed to expand their outreach efforts, which required

a significant alteration of timelines The barriers between systems strained

relationships at all levels Collaboration is hard to do, but it’s essential, so TA has been needed They have learned that they have to be careful and intentional in every aspect of the work Their experience is that things don’t come together until it’s meant

to be When it does finally come together it sometimes almost appears as if no effort had been put into making it happen

 There are many barriers, and the various entities were miles apart County supervisorswere real skeptical at first and some had negative attitudes For many of them, trying

to meet ICWA requirements has been frustrating The Tribal STAR approach is very different than what they were accustomed to Some of the trainees were required to bethere and initially they behaved like “prisoners” Many county workers sat with crossed arms at first In the end, many of these same workers had an epiphany, cried, and said they found the training rejuvenating

 Replicating this project in other counties and statewide takes a lot of time Urban politics and turf issues make it difficult for some county training departments and county DSS directors as they work with coalitions to agree on a training plan

 Whenever Tribal STAR brings people together, they never know what will happen There may be sparks of conflict, as there were at the CFSR intro meeting attended by the site visitor For the county it’s risky, and Tribes see it as business as usual if they are not engaged CFSR/PIP/SIP had meant nothing to Tribes before this meeting In San Diego county they found a real barrier between the Tribal community and the general population Their efforts to build relationships and trust around child welfare and youth development have been successful, and this is also benefiting other fields

 DSS has rapid turnover Every 3 years there is a significant turnover, and the average length of stay for new child welfare worker is 24 months As a result, Tribal STAR could have stayed plenty busy just training new DSS workers if they had done

nothing else

 The project has constantly had to address the lack of trust across cultures They have found it is relatively easy to talk about cross-cultural collaboration and teach people about the first steps they should take, but applying these principles and taking these steps is very difficult Habits and ideas about cultural issues are so ingrained that when one attempts to step into someone else’s world it is very difficult

 They have needed to be flexible as they implemented their work plan In addition to their original planned activities, they have also initiated and hosted several additional

TA activities such as celebrations and forums This resulted in the involvement of approximately 400 additional individuals They have also created additional

products/trainings These include the Checklist for Judges, Cross Cultural Tips for

Trainers, published articles, and supplemental training materials that are culturally

centered This project required an alternative approach to managing/appropriating funds For example more resources were needed for ‘gift-giving’, honorariums and food-hosting, in order to be culturally appropriate

Successful strategies and keys to success

 In their collaborative model the partners are always involved in everything, especiallyhiring and training In the beginning the project director acknowledged that she couldn’t do this on her own and needed to work closely with the Tribal community to identify Tribal staff members They are working with the Tribal community to learn how to manage a conversation between the Tribal community and University/child welfare community This is the acculturation piece As a result they are all working

together more effectively They now have 8 partner organizations They recognize thepartners on the cover page of all project documents They do this to represent the partnership that supported project outcomes The community perspective is critical They typically invite all the players in a community to the training- Tribal, child welfare, and IL At first some people didn’t respond They found that hearing positivecomments from a peer made all the difference Child welfare people needed to know that the intent wasn’t to embarrass them This has taken some reassurance as

participation is seen as risky The project addresses this by giving examples from the child welfare perspective The project partners feel they have really come together and been collaborative They believe it is all about the youth

 They believe having a cross-cultural team is essential to the project’s success It was very important that they hired a Native / non-native team Looking back, they feel that a non-native couldn’t have done this work alone They believe the cross cultural team for this project needed to include Native American members, preferably elders The Tribal community helped to identify members of the project team They worked with different layers within the Tribal community They provided guidance to the project on who to hire The project employs expert Native American staff members who are respected members of the tribal community They feel that Tom Lidot, Curriculum Coordinator, and Margaret Orrantia, Assistant Coordinator, are key ingredients of the project’s success Tom and Margaret both do lots of consulting, grant writing, and evaluations Tom is very highly respected in the Native American community Tom respectfully refers to Margaret as his tribal elder Margaret ran Indian Children and Family Services, comprised of 17 Tribes and Indian child welfareand adoption organizations in Southern California In this work, they have found that knowing the right people and having a good reputation are crucial Components of a successful team include being involved in the local community, being from the local land, and engaging the Tribal elders It was necessary to find someone who chooses towalk in two worlds so they looked for representatives who were acculturated, but not assimilated The TA team is diverse in terms of age, experiences, and Native

American and non Native American representation They model collaboration as part

of their work and they always include both Tribal and non-Tribal TA providers Native Americans are looked to as sources of expertise at the trainings An expert isn’t defined only by education, but also by experience

 In this work, they have found that relationships are essential For example, project staff noted that Tribal representatives would not have participated in the CFSR intro meeting if good working relationships had not previously been established They did lots of homework and worked hard to build relationships Tribal STAR has brought people together to sit and talk This is a conversation that had been waiting to happen,but child welfare professionals didn’t know how to ask They have found that there is usually a gatekeeper who is the key to developing relationships with others in their group They use tools and knowledge about how to build relationships, and they eat meals together to build relationships The training creates a context within which relationship building can occur, while the curriculum is being delivered They feel like a big family when they are together At the conclusion of training events,

participants often want to stay and talk with each other

 When setting up a meeting they are careful to choose the right people When hosting

a meeting they work to create a good buzz They think about diplomacy, create a sense of legitimacy and trust, and observe traditional ways All leaders present help welcome and open meetings and trainings They do introductions in a culturally sensitive way, acknowledging connections between those in the room Trainings and meetings begin and end with a blessing Tribal and non-tribal elders are respected Elders eat first, then those who have traveled furthest, then youth They model proper Western and Tribal etiquette, using a protocol with both style and substance Events are culturally centered, and they include ceremonies, blessings, a talking circle, gifts, and food

 A lot of their outreach during the first year was in breaking bread together They found it helpful to state their intent in clear terms They believe that asking people to join together for better outcomes for Native American youth worked better than had they said “we’ve got a grant are you in?” Their focus is on connections/teams/

partners, and they say they’ll talk with anyone who’ll listen Word of mouth

affirmations have been helpful For example, at a child welfare directors meeting, one

of the county directors gave a positive report on the Tribal STAR project After hearing other county directors praise Tribal STAR, one of the directors who had previously been unresponsive returned their next phone call Their database now contains contact information for 800 people, including trainees and a newsletter mailing list

 The curriculum covers history, context, and adolescence It covers protocols and approaches for respectfully dealing with the Tribal community The university can now document some skills and tools which they plan to put into their child welfare curriculum They believe this can translate to other cultures as well In California, child welfare training hasn’t typically overlapped with School of Social Work (SSW) curriculum/training They plan to integrate elements of the Tribal STAR curriculum into the SSW curriculum Tribal STAR participated in the SSW Workshop this spring.Being connected to CalSWEC and Title-IV-E helps, as their goal is to professionalize the SSW They plan to develop a model locally with their SSW that can be replicated

to the other parts of the State

 Tribal STAR training is hands on There are Tribal people leading the training, and training most often takes place on Tribal land Trainees are motivated to learn more and to move beyond their old ways of doing things Education of CPS workers is the focus, along with brainstorming next steps The training is also a strategic planning and practical working session There have been real results during and after the trainings The 3-6 month follow-up and action plan helps keep things moving At one training event the removal of an Indian child was addressed All the key players were there in the room In 30 minutes they concluded an appropriate placement with a Native American foster family on the reservation Later they did a second placement

in the same area As a result of this training, county and Tribal people are now doing programs and meeting together The Southern Indian Health Council Social Services department and the county now facilitate short term placements in a Tribal foster home, rather than at the Polinsky Center, the county receiving home The county DSSplacement supervisor working with the Tribal social services department, set up the pilot project to approve foster homes for initial placement of Native American youth

As a result of coming to training, a youth formerly in foster care knew her rights and could then advocate on behalf of her family for appropriate placement After coming

to a training, a former county worker now works for the Morongo tribe The new ILSworker participated in this training during her second week on the job She loved the way the training emphasized the uniqueness of Native American youth and the importance of maintaining Tribal connections The partners feel that Tribal STAR is the conduit through which all these things are happening Trainees come away with a greater respect for other cultures Tribal STAR receives calls following the training They are helping people to know where to turn to

 They have found that capturing and keeping respect among members of the Tribal community is crucial They first had to create a sense of trust between the child welfare and Tribal communities They teach and model Tribal etiquette, diplomacy as protocol with style and substance, traditional facilitation, cultivating community trust and ensuring that the environments they create are safe, neutral and un-biased They make introductions in a culturally sensitive way, relating ones connections to those in the room In order to have success they have had to maintain neutrality They come together peacefully, recognizing that there is risk involved in bringing history and issues to the table This often requires delicate negotiations One message to child welfare workers is that they have 15 seconds to establish trust and because of past injustices they are starting out behind the 8-ball

 Tribal STAR staff does their homework before going to do any effort They have found that structures are important, as is getting buy-in at the level where all the leaders are present Everything that Tribal STAR has done has been 3 pronged: initial contact within the child welfare and Tribal communities, then training, then follow-upand TA Flexible funding and timelines have helped make this approach successful

 The project works closely with the county child welfare Indian units They believe these units are critically important and that every county with a significant Native American population should have one In CA only San Diego and Los Angeles counties currently have Indian units and San Diego’s unit is seen as constantly being

at risk of cut-backs

 They believe one key to success is having leaders with passion and commitment, whoalways hold a clear intention Tribal STAR project director Dana Allen was seen by the Native American community as having good intentions, which is critical in that community Dana said she was looking for partners on a journey, and knew she needed Native American staff She talked with members of the Native American community They recommended Tom Lidot, who became the curriculum coordinator and Margaret Orrantia who is the assistant coordinator

 One key to success was to hire trainers with child welfare expertise from the local Tribal community They have found that in order to deliver this program effectively, they need someone who has a stake in it Native and non-Native trainers working together helped provide understanding for both sides This helped to embed the training in the heart of community stakeholders, who now believe in it They do their homework before they go anywhere Their trainers are comfortable with both culturesand became co-trainers This helps trainees understand both sides, and translate wordsinto actions They believe they need to develop more Native Americans who can do the training and community engagement work

 Staff noted that Tribal folks are more open when they are on their own turf Distance issues were made real to DSS workers who traveled to the reservation for training andmeetings ILS had not been accustomed to doing training on Indian land After this project started, a training was held at the Indian Health Council Now ILS is being provided on the reservation This has proven to be a self-esteem builder for the youth.For example, one youth that has been attending IL class just passed the high school exit exam and wants to become a social worker.

 The engagement and TA process itself is fundamental to the success of this project Protocol is emphasized in training on community engagement with the Tribal

community There is no such thing as a ‘cookie cutter’ approach They try to focus on the interests and needs of the audience/community and figure out how they can help them to do their job better This requires a different approach for each community effort that they do

 Many rural Native American youth are placed and/or are living in an urban setting Retaining identity and culture is crucial Supporting this helps youth in many other ways As they learn IL skills, it is important that they keep their cultural ties Youth had long said that they wanted child welfare workers to listen to them This is what Tribal STAR did Having youth, IL classes, the ILS program, and the Tribes work together is very different than what has happened in the past The Tribal community hadn’t often come together to talk about the needs of children and youth Talking and learning about connection and loss has motivated workers to put their best foot forward for youth From the County ILS perspective, identifying Native American youth and making connections had been difficult They didn’t know what they were missing until Tribal STAR taught them about connecting to culture and extended family They now recognize that Tribal youth removed from the reservation are disconnected from their families/communities They now know they need to support connections and their goal is for all youth to return to their family/community

Participants learn that in Native American culture, one speaks of who one is as ones family and where one comes from, so they emphasize the importance of youth being able to retain identity and culture They learn how critical that knowledge is in order for Native American youth in foster care to maintain connections with their Tribal community During every Tribal STAR training, the perspective of those in the Tribal community who have been impacted by child welfare is shared- either in the form of

a panel presentation or via a digital story This really impacted the non-Native social workers

Evaluation/results

 Project staff believes positive changes have occurred as a result of the services they’reproviding They believe they are achieving their main goal, which is creating a context for relationship building to occur This belief is based on formal and informal preliminary evaluation results

 This program has required a different evaluation approach They have modified their original evaluation plan, because it would have measured knowledge gain but would have missed the important connections that are being made between people and organizations Their goal wasn’t to impart knowledge about dates, but to build