ACF and Tribal Leaders Working Together

Administration for Native Americans Commissioner Lillian Sparks RobinsonBy Lillian Sparks Robinson, Administration for Native Americans Commissioner

In May ACF will welcome Tribal leaders from across the country for Tribal Consultation. Consultation is an opportunity for ACF leadership and elected or appointed leaders of the 566 federally recognized Tribal Nations to discuss how programs within ACF are working, and how they could be improved. ACF program offices begin planning months in advance of these meetings and in fact work year round to understand what policies or requirements might need changes in order to better meet the needs of Tribes and their citizens.

This year’s ACF consultation will again be both face to face and live streamed, allowing for greater participation amongst tribal leaders. In addition to publishing the meeting notice in the Federal Register , each tribal nation has been informed in writing of the Tribal Consultation and how to call in to participate in setting the agenda for the meeting. We will be creating the agenda with input from tribal leaders over several conference calls, April 29, May 6 and May 13.

Several ACF offices, such as the Office of Child Care and Office of Child Support Enforcement and the Administration for Native Americans have planned program-specific consultations the day before in order to have longer, more in-depth conversations about planned changes to programmatic or administrative policy, or to get input on recently enacted legislation. Other offices, such as Office of Head Start are holding additional sessions in the field, and some offices are soliciting input via teleconference in addition to the ACF Consultation. 

All of these efforts highlight that consultation is not a one-time event. The purpose of the ACF Tribal Consultation Policy is “to build meaningful relationships with federally recognized tribes by engaging in open, continuous and meaningful consultation. True consultation leads to information exchange, mutual understanding, and informed decision-making.”

To make sure everyone makes the most of this time, ACF recently held a webinar on the ACF Tribal Consultation Policy, and two years ago ANA hosted a webinar to help Tribal participants entitled; Preparing for Tribal Consultation. If you missed them, or would want to review them again recording are available on the links provided.

For too long government policies and regulations were made in a vacuum, and the results either churned out ill-informed policies, or programs had less than the intended impact. By working together, we can create better policies and programs that meet the needs of all our children and families.  We look forward to working with you.