Preparing resource families to serve children affected by historical, intergenerational, and current day traumas

Background/ Purpose: Tribal people have had negative experiences with government entities.  Historical and present day traumas have impeded the success of AIAN families, including: forced removal from tribal lands, destruction of the environment, broken treaties, forced removal and acculturation of AIAN children in boarding schools, and losses associated with living in extreme poverty. This compilation of negative experiences has resulted in disproportionate numbers of AIAN children in out-of-home care and a gap in understanding how these traumas impact AIAN child development in general (Campbell, C. & Evans-Campbell, T., 2011).  This community trauma results in shortages of foster parents from AIAN cultures and many AIAN children to experience transcultural placements (Brown et al., 2011).  Although kinship care is growing as an alternative, AIAN relatives face many barriers as a result of on-going community and intergenerational traumas.  They often care for children without formal custody arrangements, assistance from child welfare agencies, and without adequate resources (Byers et al., 2017; Cross and Day, 2008). The purpose of this study is to fill a gap to address the lack of information available on caring for AIAN children affected by these various traumas.

Methods: We conducted individual interviews with 11 AI child welfare professionals, foster parents, relative caretakers and youth.  The informant sample included persons from 3 PNW tribes, 1 Alaska tribe, 3 SW tribes, 2 SE tribes and 2 individuals from Great Plains tribes. Analyses were primarily descriptive.  

Results: Four themes emerged from the data: capacity, characteristics of successful foster/adoptive parents of AIAN children, proficiencies of successful foster/adoptive parent of AIAN children and suggestions for training prospective foster/adoptive parents of AIAN children. The 3 main themes that arose for capacity were #1, need for tribes to have their own child welfare systems; #2, gaps in knowledge regarding historical trauma; and #3, a need for AIAN specific social service resources and programs.  The top 3 characteristics were #1, unconditional love; #2, willingness to access tribal resources; and #3, willingness to access one’s extended family for support.  The top 3 themes for competencies were #1, trauma-informed knowledge of child-rearing, development and behavior practices; #2, understanding health and wellness from an AIAN perspective; and #3, overall cultural competency that includes historical trauma.  The 3 main suggestions for training were, #1, how to navigate relationships within bio-family and the AIAN community at large; #2, cultural competency including historical trauma; #3, how to interact and utilize the tribe as a resource and partner in caring for child(ren).

Conclusions and Implications: Attitudes, events and policies about caring for children and the family unit are culturally specific.  As a result of colonization, AIAN families have experienced displacement, disruption and trauma.  Current and future policies and practices in child welfare should acknowledge the existence of historical, intergenerational, and present day traumas and draw on cultural strengths of tribal communities to address the shortage of culturally competent homes needed for AIAN children placed in out-of-home-care.