29th Annual "Protecting Our Children"
National American Indian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
April 17-20, in Anchorage, Alaska
Conference Theme: Honoring Our Traditions: Sustaining Our Families
A problem of disproportionality exists within the current child welfare system. American Indian and Alaska Native children are removed from their families at disturbingly high rates, and once they are, many are placed into foster care systems where their personal and tribal needs are drastically underserved. In many cases, children are removed from their homes and families without exploring options that could work toward healing the family unit. This disproportionality within the child welfare system has created the need for services that work toward positive outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native families. The goal for many tribes is to offer services that improve the lives of children and families by working toward continued family sustainability and strong connections between children in placement and their tribes.
Tribes across the country have been working to address this issue for many years. And now, by providing technical assistance through the Western and Pacific Implementation Center and the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) and tribes are continuing to develop their own programs. By designing in-home services, family group decision-making, strengthening families and maintaining the safety of children, skill development, and Positive Indian Parenting training, tribes and communities are making a difference in the lives of families.
It is the hope of NICWA and its partners that what has begun in these tribes will be a model for growth within Indian Country and contribute to positive systemic change that will enable us to continue protecting our children. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (P.L. 110-351) has opened the door to funding that will allow such programs to grow and become the standard for tribal services.
Please join us as we gather in beautiful Anchorage, Alaska, to learn from each other and promote positive outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native children and families. This year’s conference will focus on addressing the need for services that support traditional kinship systems and family life so that American Indian and Alaska Native families can stay together and thrive.
Our conference will feature innovative workshops and presentations on strategically and tactically meeting the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native families so that what results are healthy outcomes that go to benefit our most precious resource—our children. We welcome you to join us in Anchorage!
Conference Goals
- To highlight successful strategies for building effective services
- To reveal the latest and most innovative practices of child welfare and children's mental health service delivery
- To highlight tactics and strategies for the financing and sustainability of services that impact children
- To showcase strategies for involving youth and families in developing services and policy that lead to systems change
- To create peer-to-peer networks that will assist each other in the work toward permanency for all American Indian and Alaska Native families
More information here.
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