Cherokee Nation has a strong Indian Child Welfare program,
and we have always emphasized the importance of protecting our children. The
month of May is Foster Awareness Month nationwide, and it’s important to
highlight the work of our tribe’s child welfare workers and so many caring
Cherokee foster parents.
At this time, we are working cases on approximately 1,612
children here in Oklahoma and throughout the United States. We have almost as
many cases here in our jurisdiction as we do outside it---716 children inside
the 14-county jurisdiction and 896 outside the jurisdiction. Our tribal
citizenship is the largest in America, and those numbers reflect the number of
Cherokee children in need.
Although we have had a slow and steady increase in
foster homes, it is still not near enough to have every one of our Cherokee
youth in a Native home. Two years ago we only had 17 regular foster homes, and
today we now have 46 who regularly step up to foster Cherokee children in need.
However, we need more homes. A decent number of our children are placed
with relatives, and a high percentage of those children are in non-Native
foster homes.
Those kids in non-Native homes who do not reunify with their
family or are placed with another Native family become eligible to be adopted
by the family they are placed with. To put that into perspective, if 400
Cherokee children are in non-Native homes this year and a non -Native family
adopts them, we lose 400 children. If you magnify that even more, in a 10-year
span, we risk losing 4,000 Cherokee children.
The importance of placing Cherokee children in
Cherokee fosters homes is vital. Children deserve the right to grow up in a
safe, loving environment, and they deserve the right to maintain their tribal
ties to Cherokee values and lifeways.
Our goal is to have more foster homes waiting on children
than we have children waiting on homes. Unfortunately, I do not see our Indian
Child Welfare department ever working themselves out of a job. We have a long
way to go, but I can see progress happening in this area, especially in the
past decade. We have worked aggressively with state agencies and continue
to collaborate with the faith community to address this need.
Taking it a step further, Cherokee Nation employees will
soon be able to use family leave time when accepting an ICW foster placement. A
lack of workplace support should not be a reason families close their homes
to foster children. Cherokee Nation is one of the only employers in Oklahoma
and across Indian Country to enact a progressive policy enabling a family to
address the unique issues with foster care: the required doctor appointments,
school transfers or daycare placements, and essential bonding time. If
the foster parents are unable to take time off, it compromises our
employees’ personal leave and paycheck and compromises our Cherokee
children receiving the best care.
Cherokee culture and values teach us that we belong to each
other, and we have a responsibility to take care of our children and support
the adults who are caring for them. Our children deserve a permanent, safe home
life. Cherokee Nation’s ICW team works
to create that for our children, and foster parenting must be supported in the
workplace.
The very best thing for our children is reunification with
their parents or placed with family. If family is not possible, then it is our
duty and privilege as a tribal family to step forward and care for our Cherokee
children. We all come from one fire. Our ancestors often did this without
hesitation when children lost their family during the Trail of Tears and the
rebuilding of our tribal society here in Oklahoma. One fact is true then and
true today: Children are sacred, and their care is a shared
responsibility.
If you have ever considered the path of foster care or are
interested in helping in other ways, please contact Cherokee Nation Indian
Child Welfare at 918-458-6900 or
visit www.cherokeekids.org.
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