About Youth &
Family Services
Our office is here to serve not just Tribal
children, but the whole family. We provide
crisis counseling, working with the family's
strengthens as well as their needs. We can
refer family members to other social or medical
services, and we can even advocate for your
children with the schools. We understand
that families deal with all kinds of stress
everyday. It's not easy raising kids,
especially since they don't come with
an instruction manual. We do our best to
help families find ways to cope with the issues
they're facing before they become overwhelming.
Sometimes parents suddenly realize things
haven't been going well for some time.
It's never too soon or too late to get
"hooked-up" with services.
Children's Services
In our Indian Child Welfare
capacity, we try to keep
Tribal matters "tribal."
When the State does step in,
we are there to make sure
our Tribal children are
getting the best of care and
that our Tribal families are
being given the help they
need. In the event
that a child must be
withdrawn from the home to
safe and nurturing
environment, The Indian
Child Welfare Act makes it a
law that Tribal children are
to be placed within the
family, within the Tribe or
in a Native home. We
are here to make sure that
happens. Only when
there is no appropriate
Tribal or Native home
available do we allow the
State to place a child in a
non-Native home. We
also help arrange and
provide supervised visits
between parent and child, as
well as home visits and home
studies to make sure the
needs of children in care
are met. Perhaps most
importantly, we provide
State and Tribal court
representation and advocacy
for our children.
Foster Care Licensing
Tribal
members or their families
wanting to become licensed
for Tribal Foster Care can
contact us for applications,
information and support to
carry you through the whole
licensing process and
beyond. There are many
types of foster care to
choose from, for example:
short-term, long-term,
emergency or respite.
Independent Living Skills
This program provides Tribal
youth between the ages of 15
and 20, skills for surviving
in the adult world. It
teaches skills for finding a
job, home, etc., as well as
some traditional tribal
skills.
The Trail to the
Tribe-Strengthening Families
Program
We are almost ready to
launch this new program
which is dedicated
to assisting families and
developing and sustaining
healthy communities. It's
primary purpose is to
decrease problem behaviors
in children 10 to 14, and
increase positive
interaction and
relationships between
parents and children.
Parents and youth will team
side-by-side. It has
been designed and
successfully used to
culturally support Native
families and their extended
families who are isolated
due to lack of
transportation to services,
meetings, training,
appointments and connections
to school. We are very
excited about this community
benefit to Tribal families
of school age children.
