An Introduction To AYAZUTA COM Automated ICWA Compliance

An Introduction To: AYAZUTA. COM Automated ICWA Compliance 28 th Annual "Protecting Our Children" National American Indian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect From Opportunity to Reality: Honoring Our Dream © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 1

Content • • The Dream Practical Problems Notice Honoring the Dream Introducing Ayazuta. com • ICWA Tribal Contacts Lookup • Automated ICWA Noticing Honoring the Dream Current Status Ayazuta Future © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 2

The Dream • • Indian Tribes, People, and Traditions are fundamentally respected Tribes have a right to exist Tribes have a right to their history and traditions Indian People have a right to pass those traditions forward to their children Indian Tribes have a right to intervene when their children are being removed from their parents, separate from any parental rights When coming into contact with care agencies, the child has a right to: Professional, diligent, involved, and documented investigation of their Indian heritage To have requirements for Notice, Active Efforts and Placement Preferences systematically respected Involvement of experts to ensure cultural appropriateness of actions Proportionality and fairness © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 3

Practical Problems Notice • Claims are mostly of historical Tribe membership rather than of Federally recognized tribal government, and many Tribes are not Federally recognized. • There is poor Federal mapping of Historical to Federally recognized tribes. • States may require all possible Tribes receive notice of all hearings, and one historical tribe could have 20 Federally recognized tribal governments. • The Tribal ICWA contact address published in the Federal Register can be out of date. • FACT 1 This generates the bureaucratic nightmare of Case and Social Worker time spent administering Notices rather than supporting children • FACT 2 There is variable and in some cases poor compliance • FACT 3 – BIA receives 20, 000 notices per year, Los Angeles County reports it takes about 8 hours to notice a hearing, with 4 6 hearings per case per year plus countless hours and costs in appeals from failed noticing • Assertion 1 – The process and paperwork are at the center of the system – not the child • All of these issues work against the best interests of the Indian child © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 4

Honoring the Dream The notice process, as is: Difficult or impossible to comply – Heavily paper based – Poor audit trail Largely manual The process needs to be: Compliant and Self Auditing – Meeting Court and Tribe reporting requirements Supportive of the Case and Social Worker – Few if any supportive systems at a State or County level – All available information in one place and easy to use – Time consuming, expensive, and fraught with the potential for error – Fully Automated, with a target Notice production time of 8 minutes – 8 hours average to produce notices for 1 hearing – Fast, accurate, repeatable, with little potential for error Partial support from Federal Government Nationally Available, up to date Data – Variable Federal to Historical Tribe mapping – Maintained Federal Tribes to Historical Tribes, keyword and State mapping – Aging of contact information – 6 Month review cycle – Not responsible for noticing Distrust between States, Counties and Tribes – Poor statistics, measurement, analysis – History © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 Trust based on Verification – Statistics, Process measurement – Consistent verifiable compliance 5

Introducing Ayazuta www. ayazuta. com 1. ICWA Tribal Contacts Lookup • Live and being used • Links… • Illinois Administrative Office of the Courts • NICWA 2. Automated ICWA Noticing • © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 Demo System 6

ICWA Tribal Contacts Lookup – Maps Historical Tribes to Federally recognized Tribal governments • Name, keyword, and State mapping in a single database – Keeps Tribal contact data up to date • Maintains the address published in the Federal Register • Multiple contact points if appropriate, and ongoing validation of information A well defined verifiable process… © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 7

ICWA Tribal Contacts Lookup – Maps Historical Tribes to Federally recognized Tribal governments • Name, keyword, and State mapping in a single database – Keeps Tribal contact data up to date • Maintains the address published in the Federal Register • Multiple contact points if appropriate, and ongoing validation of information Tribal confirmation by an authorized representative… © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 8

ICWA Tribal Contacts Lookup – Maps Historical Tribes to Federally recognized Tribal governments Name, keyword, and State mapping in a single database • – Keeps Tribal contact data up to date • Maintains the address published in the Federal Register • Multiple contact points if appropriate, and ongoing validation of information Resolving issues with the Federal Register… © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 9

ICWA Tribal Contacts Lookup – Maps Historical Tribes to Federally recognized Tribal governments • Name, keyword, and State mapping in a single database – Keeps Tribal contact data up to date • Maintains the address published in the Federal Register • Multiple contact points if appropriate, and ongoing validation of information Serving an increasing number of users…. © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 10

Tribal ICWA Contacts Database © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 11

ICWA Tribal Contacts Lookup • Problem – Mapping Historical Tribes to Federally recognized Tribal governments • Ayazuta Solution – Public and free mapping of Historical Tribes, Keywords, States to Federally Recognized Tribes, available on the internet 24/7 © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 12

Introducing Ayazuta www. ayazuta. com 1. ICWA Tribal Contacts Lookup • Live and being used • Links… • Illinois Administrative Office of the Courts • NICWA 2. Automated ICWA Noticing © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 13

Automated ICWA Noticing – Allows storage of the relevant case information • Tribal Claims related to a child • Investigation information • Notice information • Tribal responses • Notice/Response audit trails and Court documents – Automates production of notices • Relating claims of historical tribal membership to appropriate Federally Recognized Tribes • Automated prompting and production of notices • Automated update of responses from Tribes – Nationwide Coverage • Up to date Judicial Council forms from all customer states • Updates of contact information from all entities – Audit Trail • All access and changes to records recorded © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 14

Automated ICWA Noticing © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 15

Compliance • Problem – Variable, and in some cases, poor compliance • Ayazuta Solution – Full audit trail of all activities, changes and Notices © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 16

Social Worker Time • Problem – Social Services time consumed in paperwork • Ayazuta Solution – Automated Notice, more time to concentrate on the Outcome © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 17

Relationship Between Tribes, States and Counties • Problem – Variable relationships • Ayazuta Solution – Focus on the Child – collaborative implementation of a structured solution increases trust Federally Recognized Tribe Court - Receives compliant notice audit trail - Potential for Court notice - Fewer notice based Appeals Child - Receiving clearer communication from States and Counties - Tribe has data to exercise jurisdiction - Easy notice response - Benefits from more accurate Notice - Higher probability of being reconnected with the tribe - Higher probability of being dealt with in a culturally sensitive way Social / Case Worker - Enters Case Informaion - Investigates Heritage Claims - Enters Results of investigation - Retrieves/Updates hearing details © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 - Retains ICWA Case Information - Maintains map of Federal to Historical Tribes - Maintains up to date ICWA related Forms - Prompts Notice and Hearings - Produces Declarations and Notices - Stores responses to Notices and Investigation - Produces an Audit Trail of Notices and all changes - Keeps Federal Tribal Information Current - Reduces costs at every stage of an ICWA enquiry - Reduces tribal workload Bureau of Indian Affairs -Updates Tribal ICWA contacts -Facilitates ICWA notice oversight 18

System Structure Business Context Diagram © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 19

Honoring the Dream • ICWA helped define the Dream • There are lots of “practical” and “real” reasons why the ICWA Dream was only ever partly realized; the conditions for compliance are not in place • Without technology, the Dream cannot be delivered (after 32 years we can conclude that the manual way does not consistently work) • Tribes are universally capable of adopting technology, and overwhelmingly and vocally support improvements in the administration of ICWA © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 20

Honoring the Dream • Cost Benefits – Reduced cost of maintaining accurate Tribal ICWA contact information – Fewer Case and Social Worker hours in Notice, Administration and Hearing Preparation. – Reduced hours preparing for Appeals – Reduced cost of Notice production, USPS confirmations – More effective tracking and responses from tribes • Social Benefits – Better relationships between Tribes and States – Better handling of the child’s welfare through more accurate notice – Children with Indian heritage are more likely to be identified and reconnected – More people, focused more of the time, on better outcomes © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 21

Current Status • Tribal database is built and usable now – Validation process continues, all Tribes contact information will be validated every 6 months. – Fee based service for State, County and Commercial organizations to download the database and get updates monthly • Community driven design – Ayazuta to be developed by the community of users through a collaborative process that builds positive relationships between courts, social services, tribes, and Indian supportive services. – Tribes and tribal support groups will have free access to system • Great reaction from all interested parties • Plan for system to be completed and rolled out to initial customer Q 3/Q 4, 2010 © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 22

Ayazuta Future • • Capabilities to support • Phase 1 – Tribal Contacts Database • Phase 2 – Automated Notice production • Demo produced to drive the design • Getting the system delivered • Tribal ICWA worker access • BIA access • Phase 3 – “Active Efforts” support • Phase 4 – Placement Preferences Technology to support • Print production and distribution of notices • Digital confirmations and responses to digital notices • Closer integration with Bureau of Indian Affairs • Closer Integration with Tribes • Incrementally reduced cost of ICWA compliance © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 23

What Can You Do • • If you're a connected to a Tribe • Check the contact details on the site • Tell your Social Services agencies about the site and ask them to use it • Give us a letter of support • Add a link to Ayazuta from your website • Sign up for the Ayazuta newsletter, Twitter • Apply pressure to your local BIA region, asking them to support an Ayazuta trial If your connected to Social services • Use the contact details database, add its use to training materials • Add a link to County and State court and social services department websites to Ayazuta • Tell your State DSS and Courts, you want accurate, up to date Ayazuta data in their systems • Get the people who do noticing to look at the Ayazuta demo • Sign up for the Ayazuta newsletter, Twitter • Apply pressure to your local BIA region, asking them to support an Ayazuta trial © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 24

Questions & Answers Kevin Hughes Principal , H 7 interactive LLC Creators of Ayazuta. com Kevin@h 7 i. com 1 (310) 403 5565 © H 7 interactive, llc 2010 Heather Zenone Director of Indian Child Welfare Indian Dispute Resolution Services Hzenone@gmail. com 1 (916) 803 1919 25