Lakota VisionBased Child Welfare Practice Model Midwest Child

Lakota Vision-Based Child Welfare Practice Model Midwest Child Welfare Implementation Center Tribal Convening August 27 -28, 2009 Presenter: Emily Iron Cloud-Koenen, Co-founder and Community Development Specialist Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Creating a Lakota Values Based Vision for Children and Families • Desired Outcome: To share the Oglala Lakota transformation process experience in creating a vision for a community controlled child welfare agency as a means of exercising sovereignty over the lives of our Wakanyeja (children) and their Tiwahe (families) Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Creating a Lakota Values Based Vision for Children and Families • Community Organizing Efforts – Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) Multi-Disciplinary Team (1996) – Oglala Oyate Iwicakiyapi Okolakiciye (OOIO) • Strategic Planning & Visioning (1998) • 7 Directions defined in 7 Committees • Grant from Justice Department (1999) • Casey Family Programs funds Circles of Care. Transformation project (2000) • LOWO Charted by the Oglala Sioux Tribe (2003) Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Collaborators Department Of Social Services Casey Family Programs Oglala Sioux Tribe Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyap i Bureau of Indian Affairs OOIO Oglala Oyate Iwicakiyapi Okolakiciye Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Oglala Lakota Practice Model (OLPM) intends to integrate traditional Lakota assessment and treatment interventions into a hybrid clinical practice model that serves Lakota youth and families in a different, more culturally based approach. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Lakota Values Based Vision • Seven Spiritual/Natural Laws “Woope Sakowin” (Prayer, Generosity, Wisdom, Fortitude, Healthy Mind/Spirit, Compassion, Respect) • Lakota Social Worker Code of Ethics • Philosophy-”Mitakuye Oyasin” All My Relations • Cultural Teachings (Protocol, Star Knowledge, Decolonization) Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Lakota Code of Ethics We, the service providers of the Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation hereby pledge to abide by the following Code of Ethics. In order to provide quality services to youth, families, and the community, the service providers will be culturally and professionally competent to serve the people. As a provider of services to the Oyate I shall abide by the following: Lakota ta woope ki hena slolwaye na ecel waun kte I have the knowledge of the seven Lakota laws (values) and will honor them, and be a reflection of them, as I represent the organization.

Lakota Code of Ethics Taku sica hena tetan han epaege megluzin kte, mini sica na pejuta sica hena I will live in a clean and healthy environment re: wellness I will be alcohol and drug free, and will stand against activity of any illegal substance abuse I will be a positive role model for the community; I understand that as a public servant, my private behavior will be subject to public scrutiny Lakol wico ghan el yapi cin pi hena nawecejin kte I will uphold the Lakota culture and support the people when they are in need of service and ceremony Lakol woglakapi hena nawecejin kte I will support and encourage the people to learn the Lakota language and culture

Lakota Code of Ethics Lakol wicoghan hena omaspe kte I will be consistently open to learn the Lakota cultural teachings Wicoghan ke lena tuweyni esum ewowaglakikte sni I will uphold the confidentiality of the agency and the people served Ohiniya eklu onehan waun kte I will conduct myself professionally at all times Lakota ta wowasi ki lena okolakiceye ki le nawecejin kte I will uphold the current National Association of Social Workers (NASW) code of ethics http: //www. naswdc. org/pubs/code. asp

Wakanyeja Ta Wowasake: “Traditional Children Rights” 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Right to a mother Right to a Father Right to identity with traditional way of life Right to his or her language (Lakota) Right to a family Right to know the traditional laws, customs, and ceremonies of the Lakota people Right to live according to and to practice the traditional laws, customs that govern the people Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Tiwahe na Tiospaye Ta Wowasake: “Traditional Family Rights” n n n Wicozani- to make choices and decisions to live a healthy and prosperous life according to traditional laws, customs, and ceremonies. Igluhapi- to make choices and decisions to establish economic, political, educational and cultural self-sufficiency, and maintain privacy according to traditional laws, customs, and ceremonies Woope Gluhapi- to live and function according to the traditional laws, customs, and ceremonies; and to protect and nurture such laws, customs, ceremonies Woitancan-to select and designate leaders to serve the people and to promote the common good according to the traditional laws, customs, and ceremonies Woilake-to select and designate such official officers and workers as the tiosapye deem necessary to serve the people and to promote the common good according o the traditional laws, customs, and ceremonies Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Search for Relatives-Lakota Permanency Medicine Wheel #1 © Pending Richard Moves Camp & Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi Casey Family Programs

The Family Healing Circle Medicine Wheel #2 © Pending Richard Moves Camp & Casey Family Programs Draft Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Wakanyeja Na Tiwahe Ta Woope, OST Child and Family Codes (May 2007) § 401. 3 Preamble In the past, the United States government has attempted to extinguish the council fires and fragment and dismantle our family and social structure. During the post-reservation era, paternalism on the part of the United States government eroded much of our nation's culture, language, and heritage. Nevertheless, the people never succumbed totally to the economic, educational, cultural, and political pressures wrought by the United States government. The people's tenacious desire to remain free enabled them to maintain their distinctive identity. Rather than becoming Americanized, they chose to reconstruct and reorganize their nation. This Code is drafted and enacted as a matter of deliberate choice in an effort to reconstruct and reorganize our institutions in the furtherance of our distinctive identity, culture, and values. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Tiospaye Interpreter: The person or persons designated by their tiospaye to act as an interpreter concerning provisions of this Code; to receive training and certification by LOWO as the official point(s) of contact; and to receive notices and information concerning a child and/or an adult where there is an allegation that such person(s) may be a Family in Need of Services or a Child in Need of Care. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Business Process Integration In compliance and adherence to the Oglala Sioux Tribe Child and Family Code, Wakanyeja Na Tiwahe Ta Woope, the defined processes within represent a new beginning and new era of child protection and family preservation on the Oglala Lakota Reservation. A resultant endeavor that encompassed a considerable time and effort of progressive leadership for Oglala Sioux Tribal Agency Organizations, their staff, the Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi, Tiospaye Interpreters and external supporting agencies; this procedural manual has come to fruition through a consensual inter-agency dialog that embodies the spirit of Lakota child protection and family preservation. Within the Business Process Integration are guiding principals and the application of the Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi Oglala Lakota Practice Model. The contemporaneous application of law and Lakota Traditions are joined in an unprecedented manner whereby a process and procedure for inter-agency cooperation is defined through state of the art process maps all while being referenced to the OST Child and Family Code. As a procedural guide, the processes within represent a best practice scenario and defines inter-agency partnerships for Lakota child protection and family preservation. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Business Process Integration Entails: • Reference to Laws or Regulations • Develop Process Map (flow of the work) • Creation of Practice Standard – Written description of service delivery • Inclusion of Cultural Concepts and Approaches in the practice Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Wopasi (Investigation) LOWO CPS has established well defined risk assessment guidelines for investigating wakanyeja abuse and neglect reports. The LOWO child protective services will conduct risk assessments to determine maltreatment, or if any wakanyeja in the home is at risk for maltreatment, to initiate protective services, and to make referrals as deemed appropriate. Commentary LOWO CPS will conduct wopasi on wakanyeja abuse and neglect reports that are “screened in” during intake process. Several decisions are made during this phase to determine if any maltreatment occurred, to identify the strengths and needs of the tiwahe, to explore the likelihood of future maltreatment risk to the wakanyeja, and to ascribe a disposition to the case. Section 406. 4 (b) requires all abuse and neglect reports to be jointly investigated by LOWO CPS and the Department of Public Safety. However, LOWO CPS is the lead agency for conducting wopasi on maltreatment reports in order to determine treatment and services needs, and to provide treatment and services to the wakanyeja and the tiwahe. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Tokatakiya – Going Forward • Culturally relevant family preservation model • Tribal Child Welfare Training Institute • Family Group Decision Making utilized as a differential response Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Challenges • Changing the “system of oppression” – Working with internalized racial inferiority/lateral violence • Funding • Regulations, bureaucratic compliance elements • Expanding the circle of traditional healers/interpreters • Cultural Linguistics – spelling and interpretation of Lakota Language Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

• Consultants – Child & Family Codes • Tribal Law & Policy Institute • Attorney’s Brett Shelton & George Twiss • Cultural Advisors: Marie Randall, John Around Him, Elaine Quiver, Richard Moves Camp, Dr. Elgin Bad Wound • Arlana Bettleyoun & Gloria Cournoyer – Oglala Lakota Practice Model • Richard Moves Camp • Casey Family Programs – Russ Conti, Carol Iron Rope Herrera, Emily Iron Cloud-Koenen, Tammy Red Owl – LOWO Practice Standards • Native American Training Institute – Business Process Integration & Mapping • Face 2 Face Technologies Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Questions, Comments, Feedback Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

Contact Information Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi PO Box 604 Pine Ridge SD 57770 605 -867 -5752 office 605 -867 -5941 fax Susan Du. Bray/Charles Pourier – Co-Executive Directors sdubray@ostlowo. org; cpourier@ostlowo. org Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi