1. Developing A Culturally Based Tribal Child Welfare Agency
Lakota Child Welfare Case Management Model of Practice
January 25, 2011
Presenter: Emily Iron Cloud-Koenen
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

2. 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

3. 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

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

5. 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

6. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
Wakanyeja Ta Wowasake: “Traditional Children Rights”
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

7. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
Tiwahe na Tiospaye Ta Wowasake: “Traditional Family Rights”
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

8. 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. (see addendum for OLPM graphic)
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

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

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

11. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
The En’ghahan Wosecupi (temporary Choosing, Temporary Care)
PHASE 1: Receive Service Request
Intake
Gather information on the family
Orientation to the OLMP Protocol and Services
Orientation and option to receive services through differential approaches
Otakuye Okilepi
Relatives are sought within the tiyospaye (extended family)
Tiyospaye Interpreters assist in locating relatives
Child maybe placed in another Tiyospaye or Band
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

12. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
Wokicunze Kaghapi (Making a Commitment;) (Belonging) (Kinship/Permanency), initiating a Case Service Plan utilizing strength-based and family centered approaches.
PHASE 2b: Evaluate Request
Family Group Decision Making
Maori model parallels the Lakota culture & traditions
Initial Assessment & Service Plan
Family develops a vision of their strengths and needs
Lakota Cultural Assessment
Understanding the families level of cultural awareness
Spiritual Assessment
Assistance from the spirits/ancestors to assess the families holistic well-being
Crisis Intervention & Support Plan
Integration of cultural, spiritual and clinical assessments to coordinate services
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

13. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
Hunkapi (Making of Relatives; Relationship Building)
One of the seven ceremonies which honors the spirit of the individual and reinforcement of the kinship role
PHASE 3a & 4a: Provide Services/Re-evaluate
Hunkapi Wicoghan – Making of relatives ceremony
Hunkapi Ceremony
Lakota Mental Health Diagnosis and Treatment
Indian Child Welfare Act/Family Preservation Services
Family Development, Training & Support
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

14. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
Tiwahe Eyecinka Egloiyapi Nahan Op Unpi Kte – (The Family Moving Forward) (Building Sovereignty for the Family)
PHASE 3b & 4b: Provide Services/Re-evaluate
Inipi (Sweat Lodge)
Purification Ceremony
Nagi Kicopi (Calling back the Spirit)
Lost connection with spirit due to trauma
Wasigla Ekignakapi (Wiping of Tears)
Healing ceremony to assist families through grief/trauma
Other Lakota Healing Ceremonies
Transition Services
Independent Living Skills (youth transitioning)
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

15. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
Tiwahe Eyecinka Egloiyapi Nahan Op Unpi Kte – (The Family Moving Forward) (Building Sovereignty for the Family)
PHASE 5: Closure
Decision made by client or staff to discontinue services
After Care
Development of plan to define further services
Closure
Decision is made by the family or staff to end services
Continuance of services upon families request
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

21. 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 (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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
Questions, Comments, Feedback
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi

26. Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
Contact Information
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi
PO Box 604
Pine Ridge SD 57770
office
fax –
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi