The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska can now receive reimbursements for providing child welfare services directly from the federal government. Both governments finalized the agreement last month.
That means the tribe’s reimbursements no longer need to go through the State of Alaska. Tribal officials say the agreement gives them more flexibility in handling cases where child abuse and neglect may be happening.
Mary Johnson is the senior director for family services at Tlingit and Haida. She said the tribe will continue working with the state on child welfare services, but it can now look into ways to expand its services.
“What do we need to get into place to license our own foster homes? What do we need to get into place if we do want to initiate a child welfare case within our own tribal court? And how do we go about putting that into action?” Johnson said. “Now we have the resources to make that happen with a lot of work.”
Alaska’s Office of Children’s Services has agreements with tribes across the state to serve Alaska Native children placed in the system. Tribes assist in Indian Child Welfare Act cases. The law sets standards for children’s services agencies to place Alaska Native and Native American children with family members or to keep them in their home communities if they are removed from their family.
That means Tlingit and Haida works with the state to find a suitable place for children to live after they’ve been removed. In the past, federal reimbursements were distributed to tribes from the state. With the new agreement, Johnson said the tribe can now receive reimbursements directly from the federal government.
Johnson said the tribe’s family services generally have a better understanding of a referred family’s cultural background.
“If you are working with a caseworker at Tlingit and Haida, the chances of them being Alaska Native or even a tribal citizen are pretty high,” she said. “So you’re going to be connecting with someone that just tends to know your way of living a bit more than someone who doesn’t. So that makes a huge difference when working with our families.”
Data from OCS shows that more than two thirds of the children removed from their home last year in the state were Alaska Native.
Tlingit and Haida worked on more than 233 cases in 15 states last year. The tribe serves all of its tribal citizens, including those that live outside of Alaska.
Johnson said the tribe hopes to expand its abuse and neglect prevention services through the agreement as well.
“We have communities that are really strong in one area, and that could be a great area to build off of to do a prevention activity so it can be individualized to a community based on their strengths and their needs,” she said.
The tribe will now go into an implementation phase, where officials will continue developing its child welfare and monitoring program to be approved for reimbursements. Johnson said in an email she anticipates the tribe will need six to 12 months to go through the approval process.
