Event Details

Creating Connections to Enhance Tribal Welfare Systems
A REGIONAL TRIBAL CHILD WELFARE GATHERING

Solely for Tribes in ACF Regions V and VII

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Lake of the Torches Resort, Casino & Convention Center
512 Old Abe Road
Lac du Flambeau, WI

Sponsored by the Midwest Child Welfare Implementation Center

PURPOSE

• Take part in interactive, solution-focused dialogue and networking opportunities for child welfare leaders of Tribes located in ACF Regions V and VII
• Hear information about the Children’s Bureau’s National Child Welfare Training and Technical Assistance Network’s resources, including MCWIC and its role in the Network
• Get to know MCWIC staff and learn about opportunities to collaboratively develop implementation projects to enhance outcomes for children and families
• Learn about the State/Tribal Regional Forum held in Chicago, IL, April 14 - 15, 2009

AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS

Keynote speaker: Dr. Priscilla Day, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Department of Social Work. Dr. Day is a Co-Principal Investigator for the American Indian Child Welfare Certificate Program, and her areas of research are American Indian Family Preservation and Cultural Competence. Dr. Day is an Anishinabe and an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band. She will address key elements and challenges in raising healthy Native American children from a child welfare perspective.

THERE WILL ALSO BE OPPORTUNITIES FOR

• facilitated topical discussions with other Tribal child welfare leaders. (Learn more about the facilitators here)
• hearing about the new MCWIC and the National Child Welfare Training and Technical Assistance Network resources that are available to Tribal agencies
• breakfast and lunch networking with other Tribal Child Welfare leaders and MCWIC staff

REGISTRATION PROCESS

There are no registration fees for this event. Registration for this forum will be available in 3 ways:

• Mail the completed registration form to MCWIC, 206 S. 13th Street, Suite 1000, Lincoln, NE 68588-0227
• Fax the completed registration form to (402) 472-0677.
• Call MCWIC toll-free at (888) 523-8055 and speak to Sarah Hansen.

Please register by February 27, 2009.

REIMBURSEMENT OF TRAVEL EXPENSES

The MCWIC will provide reimbursement for travel costs, accommodations, and per diem for two representatives from each Tribal agency in ACF Regions V and VII that is a Title IV-B grant recipient; reimbursement will be provided at the Federal Travel Reimbursement rates found at www.gsa.gov. Please indicate the planned method of travel on the registration form. All flight arrangements must be made through MCWIC’s contracted travel agency by February 27, 2009. Tribes that are not Title IV-B funded are welcomed to attend the gathering at their own expense.

LODGING

Sleeping rooms will be provided the night of March 17th for all meeting participants to accommodate travel to the meeting location. An additional night of lodging is available on March 18th as travel arrangements require. Please indicate a preference for smoking or non-smoking rooms on the registration form. A limited number of smoking rooms are available.

GROUND TRANSPORTATION

Ground transportation from the Rhinelander/Oneida Airport or the Wausau Airport will be provided by Lake of the Torches Resort. MCWIC will coordinate these arrangements with the Resort and will provide reimbursement for ground transportation costs for two representatives from each tribal agency as indicated above.

MEALS

A meal voucher for the Eagle’s Nest dinner buffet will be available upon check-in for Tuesday, March 17th. Breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided throughout the day on Wednesday, March 18th. Additional meals will be reimbursed under Federal Travel Reimbursement rates

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GATHERING?

Contact Mark Ells or Michelle Graef, Project Directors, Midwest Child Welfare Implementation Center, mells1@unl.edu, mgraef1@unl.edu, or call toll-free 888-523-8055.

SPEAKER/FACILITATOR BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Dr. Priscilla Day
Priscilla A. Day is a Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Minnesota – Duluth, where she has worked since 1993. She is a Co-Principal Investigator for the American Indian Child Welfare Certificate Program. Currently, her areas of research are American Indian Family Preservation and Cultural Competence. During the summer of 2002 she made site visits to the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota to conduct focus groups and interview tribal members about their very successful family preservation programs. As a member of the National Indian Children's Alliance (NICA), she will be co-writing a research report on this project. NICA is a national group of professors that conduct research on American Indian child welfare issues. In her other area of research, cultural competence, she helped create a new model of diversity training that is used in the Department of Social Work. Priscilla is an Anishinabe and an enrolled member of the Leech Lake reservation. She is the mother of three adult children (one in the navy-one off at college, one "working").

Dr. Ron Leith
Ron Leith is an enrolled member of the Lower Sioux Dakota Community, of which his father was a member. He grew up on the Red Lake Ojibwe Reservation in Northern Minnesota, where his mother is a tribal member. Ron's studies included child welfare and education at Kent State University in Ohio and Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has worked many years in the field of Indian Child Welfare, serving as Social Services Director at various times for both the Lower Sioux and Upper Sioux Dakota Communities in Southern Minnesota. Ron served as Chair of the Minnesota Indian Child Welfare Advisory Council, an entity that advises the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services on child welfare issues affecting American Indian children and families. He has been a foster parent and mentor to American Indian youth.

Ms. Loa Porter
Ms. Porter is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and has worked with several tribes and tribal governments in the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin in areas of social welfare, tribal government, education, mental health and Indian Child Welfare. The focus of Ms. Porter’s work has been to integrate tribal philosophies into the structures, polices and standards that reflect and employ the customs, traditions and inherent order of tribes. After receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, Ms Porter devoted study and research on issues related to sexual abuse in native communities. After receiving a federal grant through the Department of Justice, Ms. Porter established the first interviewing facility for Indian children on the Grand Portage Reservation. Much of the work with children revealed a great need for the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Ms. Porter worked along side many representatives of Minnesota tribes to help create Minnesota’s Tribal State Agreement. That experience and knowledge provided an opportunity to work hand in hand with the eleven tribal sovereigns and the State of Wisconsin, Department of Children and Families, where she works as the Indian Child Welfare Consultant. Ms. Porter received a Master of Public Administration through the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh in 2005 and continues to examine and analyze governmental structures to balance tribal, state and federal laws impacting Indian children and families.

Ms. Sandra White Hawk
Sandra White Hawk is a Sicangu Lakota from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Ms. White Hawk is the founder of the First Nations Orphan Association, whose mission is to gather and help heal American Indian adoptees and fostered individuals through community outreach and sharing her story. She has traveled the world sharing her vision of community healing to American Indians who grew up in the foster care system. She has worked on community building and child welfare activities within tribal and urban communities. Ms. White Hawk has provided academic counseling to college students in Madison, Wisconsin, is a consultant to the National Indian Child Welfare Association, and serves on the Minnesota Indian Child Welfare Advisory Council as a representative for the American Indian urban community of St. Paul, Minnesota. She has two children and lives in St. Paul, MN with her husband, George McCauley.

Ms. Terri Yellowhammer
Terri Yellowhammer, an attorney, is the Indian Child Welfare Consultant for the State of Minnesota Department of Human Services. She also currently trains trainers for Minnesota's Child Welfare Training System. She is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Lakota Nation of North and South Dakota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1995. Ms. Yellowhammer began her legal career as an Assistant Attorney General in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in the Education and Human Services Divisions, specializing in mental health law. From there she joined the staff at the Indian Child Welfare Law Center, where she represented clients involved in ICWA cases in county child protection matters. She has served as a guard ad litem in cases involving American Indian families for Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. Ms. Yellowhammer is also an Associate Judge with the White Earth Nation Tribal Court. She is the Tribal Outreach Consultant for the Midwest Child Welfare Implementation Center.