ACF’s Partnerships with Tribes During the Obama Administration

Originally delivered by pre-recorded video on June 21st 2016 at the 2016 ACF Native Grantee Meeting at the Paragon Resort in Marksville, Louisiana, the home of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe.

Welcome and Introductions

I’m Mark Greenberg, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families.  I’d like to welcome everyone to our third Native American Grantee meeting. 

I’m sorry I can’t be with you, but wanted to say a few words of welcome as you begin the conference.  We’re very pleased to have opportunities to bring ACF’s Native American grantees together to learn and engage with each other. The goal of this meeting is to share information on how to better integrate your programs and improve service delivery. We hope we can also learn from you on your promising practices, while providing you with the information and tools you need to help strengthen your communities.

I’ve been with ACF since 2009, and I’ve worked with ANA Commissioner Lillian Sparks Robinson since Lillian got here a few months later.   I want to take a few minutes this morning to talk with you about the progress that has been made at ACF in this Administration in partnering with and responding to the needs of Native American and tribal communities, and how we’re committed to building on that progress. 

Partnerships and Support for Native American and Tribal Communities

In literally every part of ACF, we’ve made important progress during this Administration.  First, we’ve worked with tribes to significantly expand the number of tribes that are directly operating ACF programs and the numbers of participants in tribal programs.

• Over the last eight years, the number of tribes administering their own TANF program has increased from 59 Tribal Family Assistance Grants to 73 Tribal Family Assistance Grants. 
• We’ve awarded grants to 32 tribes to assist them in developing plans to operate their own Title IV-E Foster Care, Adoption Assistance and Guardianship Assistance programs and, so far, approved 7 tribal grantees to operate the title IV-E program directly.
• The number of tribes operating child support programs has grown from 36 to 63.  
• We’ve been able to fund tribal home visiting programs, tribal Health Professions Opportunity Grants programs, tribal Personal Responsibility Education programs to provide culturally appropriate, comprehensive teen pregnancy and STI/HIV prevention education, as well as adulthood preparation education to American Indian /Alaska Native youth.
• We’ve funded two rounds of tribal court improvement grants to assess, expand, or enhance the effectiveness of tribal courts and legal representation in cases related to child welfare, family preservation, family reunification, guardianship, and adoption. 
• The number of American Indian and Alaskan Native children participating in Early Head Start has grown from 2400 to 5000.
• We increased the tribal set-aside under the Child Care and Development Block Grant from 2 percent to 2.75 percent of discretionary child care funding.
• And, starting in 2017, tribes operating programs funded under the Community Services Block Grant will be able to use their CSBG funds as part of their projects operating under Public Law 102-477, which allows Federally-recognized Tribes and Alaska Native entities to combine employment and training into a single plan with a single budget and a single reporting system.

Strengthening the Role of ACF’s Administration for Native Americans

Second, we’ve significantly strengthened the operations and role of the Administration for Native Americans.  ANA now has the largest budget and the largest staffing in its history.  ANA entered into an Memorandum of Understanding with the Departments of Education and Interior to continue the promotion of language in our schools, and held its first ever Native Language Symposium, which brought together ANA’s language grantees from across the country to share best practices and assess the challenges and barriers faced by our grantees.  ANA has coordinated ACF work in partnering with the White House and USDA in Generation Indigenous (GEN-I) activities. 

Focusing on Native Children

Third, during this Administration, we’ve worked with colleagues at the Department of Interior and Department of Justice to bring the strongest attention to effective implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) since ICWA was enacted. Our efforts include creation of a national model judicial ICWA curriculum, released through the Children’s Bureau’s Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative in January 2016, and the April 2016 publication of a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing that ICWA-related data elements be included in the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System for the first time.  We’re seeking to finalize this regulation before the end of the Administration.

Tribal Research Agenda at ACF

Fourth, in this Administration, we’ve developed the strongest tribal research agenda and efforts in ACF’s history, in close partnership with tribes.  We expanded the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) to include tribal participants and data we’ve supported research on the coordination of tribal TANF and child welfare services, tribal health profession opportunity grants, and tribal home visiting.   We’ve held dedicated meetings with researchers, federal staff, and grantees who work with AIAN communities gathered to discuss challenges and priorities for measurement development, focusing on the role of tribal sovereignty and community participation in measure development; cultural adaptation and measurement of implementation fidelity; performance measurement for programs serving tribal communities; and measuring strengths and protective factors in AIAN communities. 

And we are committed to ongoing efforts to apply a trauma-informed lens to the programs we support, and we recognize the particular challenges of complex and historical trauma in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Within ACF, we are engaged in supporting work that promotes resilience to traumatic exposures and toxic stress through such venues as our work in Tribal Home Visiting, child welfare capacity building, and analysis by OPRE on culturally appropriate interventions in the area of self-regulation and toxic stress for Native children and youth.  And, we’re working with HHS colleagues to develop a Primer of Trauma-Informed Approaches in Human Services, which will include information and resources specifically for programs serving Tribal communities to help those interested in learning more about trauma-informed approaches, including information on historical trauma in Indian country.

Committing to Partnerships and Consultation

Finally, we’re committed to institutionalizing the progress we’ve made during this Administration.  We’re confident that our tribal consultation policy and Tribal Advisory Committee, both of which were established under this Administration, will play important roles in ensuring that our work with tribes continues as a respectful and close partnership.  The stronger tribal participation across ACF programs will support these efforts.  And, in the coming months, we’ll be releasing and posting a set of principles to govern ACF’s work with federally recognized tribes, to more formally recognize the principles that we view as fundamental in reflecting our commitments to partnership, meaningful consultation, permanence, and sustainability in our relationships with tribes.

I want to thank you again for your work, and for joining in for this conference, and we look forward to continuing our collaborative partnerships.

Thank you.