How We Listen and Protect

Lillian Sparks RobinsonBy Lillian Sparks Robinson, Commissioner, Administration for Children and Families

"Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
  — Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa

By May 1, 2015 nine Native youth on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota had committed suicide since December of the previous year.  The youngest victim was only 12 years old.  This was not the first time that the Pine Ridge Reservation had been dealt such a tragic hand, nor was it the only Native community undergoing an epidemic of youth suicides.  According to a national survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration , Native American youth have the highest rate of suicide among all ethnic groups in the United States.

I called an all hands meeting of the Administration for Native American’s staff in response to that most recent tragedy.  Many members of ANA’s staff are Natives who come from the different regions that we serve.  This meeting was a time to grieve for the loss suffered by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and reflect on what led so many children to take their own lives.  Reflection led to much discussion on how ANA could most effectively support Native youth and do its part to protect them from harm.

In the aftermath of 11 suicides total, ANA awarded a single source emergency grant to the Oglala Sioux Tribe to provide empowerment activities for youth.  The goal was to celebrate life and help youth from ages 8 to 24 envision a positive future.  It was a form of capacity building that staff decided they wanted to offer to more than just the youth of Pine Ridge.

Empowerment and strengthening resiliency factors are a large part of what ANA does for the communities it serves.  Native youth, in particular, face many risk factors that increase their chances of attempting suicide, such as local suicide epidemics, physical or sexual abuse, substance abuse, and feelings of hopelessness and isolation.  ANA staff acknowledged that they could not eradicate all these risk factors, but they could work to strengthen critical protective factors that buffer individuals from suicidal behavior.  Feelings of hopelessness and a lack of connection to their community were a large part of what was leading so many young people to take their lives.  It was this despair and loneliness ANA hoped to combat.

While everyone on staff shared the goal of increasing Native youth capacity and resiliency, there were questions on how this could be done.  The conclusion reached was that ANA would utilize a three-pronged approach focused on program funding, technical assistance, and research and evaluation of efforts.  All three parts would require Native youth input.  Staff members realized that all the best intentions in the world would not make funded projects or research efforts successful if the young people weren’t allowed to express their needs.  ANA would have to think differently about its role as grant benefactor and concede more of the decision making to those it wished to empower.  With the budget for this plan approved a new funding opportunity was born, the Native Youth Initiative for Leadership, Empowerment, and Development (I-LEAD).

The purpose of I-LEAD is to create community programs that promote Native youth resiliency and foster protective factors such as connections with Native languages and Elders, positive peer groups, models of safe sanctuary, and more.  Leadership skills will be fostered amongst youth through the establishment of local models that instill confidence and teach older youth how to guide younger peers.  Native youth must be involved in the drafting and implementation of all projects and their subsequent activities.  In this way, we are asking our young people to tell us what they most need to protect them from the risk factors that lead to thoughts of suicide.

Success will look different for each I-LEAD project with some focused on improving parenting skills and others looking to find connection through traditional healing.  Successful models can be reviewed and evaluated for their applicability by other communities facing the same issues so that all Native youth can become more resilient and empowered to achieve positive futures.  The key is to accentuate protective factors already present in the community and strengthen them so that they outweigh risk factors.

The efforts of I-LEAD grantees will be supported by a Native Youth training and technical support center and the shared research efforts of ANA and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation.  Working more closely with Native youth has allowed ANA to strengthen other relationships as well.  The various divisions within ANA collaborated extensively to see that the challenges facing Native youth were addressed, and they will continue to share the responsibility of carrying out the three-pronged plan.  ANA has also been able to work more closely with other ACF offices and outside entities, such as the White House, on the shared goal of supporting Native youth.  ANA is dedicated to ensuring that Native communities are not only sustained, but that they continue forward for generations to come.

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