Taneesha Watson, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, and Kiowa Harvey, of the Chinle community of the Navajo Nation. Photo by Ed Cunicelli.
With the goal of raising “happy, healthy and successful” children in Indian Country and keeping them out of foster care, the federal government has awarded six tribal communities a total of $3 million to expand programs that serve families with young children in their homes, the latest award in a continuing expansion of such programs.
The U.S. Administration for Children and Families funding is included in a larger investment of more than $30 million for the Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Toddler Home Visiting Program, which focuses on expecting parents and their children from birth through kindergarten. The federal funding awarded today will go toward establishing home visiting programs in communities that currently lack such services. The Seneca Nation of Indians in New York; the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota; Future Generations Collaborative in Oregon; the Jicarilla Apache Nation in New Mexico; the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut; and the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium will share the funding.
“We are excited about this new round of grant recipients, who will develop their programs in collaboration with their communities, reflecting their cultures and representing the vision, priorities and hopes they have for future generations,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Hild said in a news release. Hild said that as tribal home visiting programs continue to expand, his agency looks forward to working with the new grant recipients “and honoring tribal sovereignty as they continue on their path to provide essential services to American Indian and Alaska Native children and their families.”
While many federally funded child welfare programs require a scientific evidence base, home visiting services on tribal lands may receive funding for interventions that are “Whether evidence-based or considered a promising approach,“according to the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Early Childhood Development. One such program, Family Spirit, has met federal criteria for demonstrating evidence of effectiveness through a systematic review.
The program, created in 1995, focuses on intergenerational behavioral health and serves Native American mothers from pregnancy through their children’s third birthday. It operates through a partnership between the Johns Hopkins Center for Indian Health and the Navajo, White Mountain Apache, and San Carlos Apache tribal communities. The team began conducting randomized controlled trials in 2001 and has since shown positive results with participating parents and children.
Mothers participating in the Family Spirit program (which offers parents ages 24 and younger individualized parenting training in their own homes through a 63-lesson program) experienced lower levels of stress, less depression, and decreased substance abuse. Participants reported that their children were less likely to be emotionally “dysregulated” and were at lower risk for addiction and future behavioral health problems.
Tribal home visiting models selected for federal funding must be “collaborative and community-driven” and tailored to local needs and the tribes’ capacity to implement the program. Other examples include Parents as Teachers, Nurse-Family Partnership, and the Parent-Child Assistance Program. A 2021 randomized trial found that five years after using a “universal newborn nurse home visiting program” model, children were 33% less likely to receive emergency medical care and 39% less likely to be subject to a child protective services investigation.
Its goals are to support “happy, healthy and successful American Indian and Alaska Native children and families,” according to the Administration for Children and Families.
Subscribe to the newsletter
Receive weekly updates from The Imprint.
The focus is on home visits by service providers who can promote maternal and child health and development, provide early learning resources, and better support families to prevent abuse and neglect. Programs receiving federal funding must be “high-quality, culturally informed,” expand connections with other child-serving systems, and be able to broaden the evidence base for home-based services. Pregnant women, expectant parents, and parents and caregivers of children under age 5 are among those eligible to receive services.
While receiving assistance, federal recipients must measure and report on progress toward meeting “legally required benchmarks” for the families involved.
According to a press release from the Administration for Children and Families, under the Biden administration, funding for tribes to implement programs like these has been expanded and represents a continued growth in investment. This fiscal year, the administration awarded $30.8 million to the Tribal Mother, Infant, and Toddler Home Visiting Program which has so far served 82 tribal communities and 18 urban Native American communities across the country.
About the Author
Nancy Marie Spears
JOBs Apply News
For the Latest JOBs Apply News, Follow ©JOBs Apply News on Twitter and Linkedin Page.
