The annual North Dakota Indian Child Welfare and Wellness
Conference is a chance for those who care about Native American
children to come together and learn.
“I come every year. This is one conference that I make sure I
come to every year,” Andrea Olson, an adoption worker from Grand
Forks said.
The conference is in its 11th year and more than 200 child
protection workers, people in human services and juvenile justice
departments, teachers and foster parents are in attendance, said
program director Sandy Bercier. The event wraps up Friday.
Bercier said North Dakota has one of the highest
disproportionate number of Native American children in foster care.
In Burleigh County, 8.2 percent of the population is Native
American but 36.6 percent of the children in foster care are Native
American, according to Kids Count of North Dakota. In Morton
County, 7 percent of the population is Native American but 50
percent of children in foster care are Native American, according
to the survey.
“That means there’s a lot of Native American children in foster
care that have really no access to their culture,” Bercier
said.
Thursday’s workshop “Fostering Connections for Native American
Youth” discussed family group decision making, a process designed
to help keep children with their families. The process involves
bringing together the child’s family and others that care about the
child to create a plan to address the child’s needs.
The North Dakota Department of Human Services, the Village
Family Service Center and the University of North Dakota School of
Social Work are partnering to provide the service for Native
American families. Previously, the Village had been funded to
provide these services for anyone, research evaluator Melanie Sage
said, but the new funding will be specifically for Native American
children. Family group decision making is one of two family
engagement processes the new three-year grant will address.
“We believe children are better off with their families, that
the state isn’t the best kind of parent that children can have. And
we know the outcomes for kids that age out of foster care aren’t
the best,” Sage said.
For the second year in a row, a panel of four Native American
women who had been through the foster care system answered
questions, shared personal experiences and gave advice.
One of the women on the panel, Wynelle Clown, said honesty and
being true to your word is most important in building trust with
Native American children.
“But most of all, accept them into your home. Accept them as a
family member … when you bring them into your home, show them
that you love them. Because, as foster children, we can tell in an
instant if you want us there.”
Amber Felix said unconditional love is key.
“It’s not about failing or succeeding, it’s about being there.
And that’s any parent … it’s just, as real parents, you don’t
have the option to get rid of your kids.”
“You can’t necessarily think of them as an object,” she added.
“Something that, well if this doesn’t work out, I can always send
it back. These are people. These are children that want to be
accepted and loved and cared for just like anybody else.”
Twenty-year-old Alayna DeRockbraine said speaking about her past
was “emotional”.
“This was my first time … I didn’t expect it to be so hard to
talk about,” she said.
Olson said the foster care alumni panel was especially
moving.
“It kind of hit home in making us understand how important a
role we as caseworkers play in these kids’ lives and how they
depend on us to make good decisions for them and with them,” she
said.
Olson said that the conference was important in helping agencies
build relationships with members of the tribal community across the
state.
“Having that face recognition and the ability to say, we were in
this together … is very helpful,” she said.
“This is so good,” Mary Miller said of the conference. Miller is
a guardian ad litem, or one that represents children’s best
interest at court. “I wish it was lasting another day so I’d have
more opportunity to take in other offers in the curriculum.”
Reach reporter Mara Van Ells at 250-8251 or mara.vanells@bismarcktribune.com.