American Indian Child Welfare Initiative
The American Indian Child Welfare Initiative (Initiative) is a significant collaboration between Minnesota Tribes, counties, and the state to enhance child welfare outcomes for Native American children. Since 2008, this initiative has transferred child welfare services from the county to a Tribal child welfare delivery system on the Leech Lake, White Earth, and Red Lake Reservations. This program empowers Tribes to deliver essential services such as child protection, foster care, and adoption. This program has significantly improved cultural competency and service delivery. The Department of Children, Youth, and Families provides ongoing technical assistance and support to current Initiative Tribes and other Minnesota Tribes seeking to implement an initiative program.
Funding and eligibility for the American Indian Child Welfare Initiative are outlined in Minnesota Statutes 256.01, subd. 14(b).Funding is intended to be directly provided to eligible Minnesota Tribes that provide support services and voluntary early intervention to address risk factors leading to child maltreatment, and to decrease the disparities American Indian families living on reservations experience in child welfare outcomes.
- 2 page Initiative document
- State and Federal Requirements for Tribes participating in the AICWI
- Title IV-E Agreements
Title IV-E of the Social Security Act is a federal program providing financial support to states and tribes to improve the quality of foster care, kinship and adoption services. The Minnesota Department of Human Services has entered into agreements with the Leech Lake, Mille Lacs Bands of Ojibwe and Red Lake and White Earth Nations. These agreements replace individual county and tribal substitute care supervision agreements and apply statewide. A Title IV-E agreement must be in effect before the tribes and counties can access federal reimbursement for foster care program costs for children for whom tribal social services agencies are responsible. Eligible costs include administrative, training and out-of-home placement expenses.
Tribes can contract with the department to provide customary adoption services for children under tribal guardianship and the families who hope to adopt them. Adoption services support tribal custom and practice, including:
- Explaining customary adoption processes to prospective adoptive parents
- Completing and updating adoption home studies
- Placing children in adoptive homes
- Providing supports and services to children and families throughout the customary adoption process
- Providing child-specific recruitment activities for children under tribal guardianship.
For more information, call Crystal Graves at 651-431-5723 or email.
We will need to follow up with IV-E Unit if this should be updated, changed or removed.
We will need to follow up with Crystal G. on this.