‘Chosen One’ campaign seeks increase in Cherokee foster and adoptive homes

The Cherokee Nation’s Indian Child Welfare team has launched a new initiative to recruit foster and adoptive parents, as well as collect some of the vital items needed for children in need. “Chosen One” is a contest featuring Cherokee Nation citizens the ICW staff has selected. These "chosen" participants were selected to assist the ICW department in recruiting Native foster and adoptive homes and will be advocating for others to get involved by donating items like diapers, backpacks, clothing and car safety chairs. These individuals are respected leaders and will be competing with one another in the “Chosen One” challenge, which will be an annual drive. The contestant with the most applicants and items donated to Cherokee Nation ICW will win the challenge.  

Some of the best ways to gain new foster and adoptive families are to get the word out with new voices and recruit new recruiters, who can utilize their circles of influence as well as their social media connections. One of the strategies evident in the “Chosen One” push is to look at stakeholders in our communities that others value and respect.  

“Chosen One” participants this year include Matt Anderson, Casey Baker, Greg Bilby, Shannon Buhl, Susan Chapman-Plumb, David Cornsilk, LeeAnn Dreadfulwater, Canaan Duncan, Alayna Farris, Rhonda Foster, Brian Hail, Daryl Legg, Debra Proctor, Brandon Scott, Kevin Stretch, Mark Taylor, Bryan Warner, Kara Whitworth and Tommy Wildcat. These 19 people have been tabbed because they possess leadership skills and have great compassion for our people. They understand the need, they care about our children’s future, and they will be excellent assets for our ICW recruitment team. It is no secret that when notable people speak, we all pay attention and respond. The deadline for the contest is the end of November, giving participants about six weeks to compete for the most new homes and desired materials. 

The campaign is the creative idea of our ICW team, which is constantly devising new ways to spread its important message. It is fun and a positive way to get Cherokees involved with recruitment and keep this issue in the public eye. Our ICW workers are dedicated and committed, but they cannot do this work alone for our children. They need fellow Cherokees to step in and step up to help. As we communicate with family, friends and co-workers, it is critical that we all work to share Cherokee Nation’s ICW’s vast needs with the public. 

Everything the ICW team does to garner support for our children and families is centered on Cherokee cultural values, including “digadatseli,” which means “we belong to each other.” Taking care of our children, protecting our future, requires all of us to be part of that circle.  

Today, Cherokee Nation’s ICW office works with more than 1,900 children. That figure includes children in Oklahoma’s custody, tribal custody and children involved in civil guardianships and adoptions. About 630 of those 1,900 children are in the state’s custody within our 14-county jurisdiction, and another 70 Cherokee children are in the Cherokee Nation’s custody. Seventy percent of the youth in state custody are in need of American Indian foster care placement. Unfortunately, we have only 50 certified foster homes at this time.  

No doubt the need is immense. We see a myriad of reasons, from historical trauma to lack of parenting skills to addiction, that have caused a spike in the numbers of kids in need. Innocent children deserve every opportunity to grow into what God intended for them. I am asking Cherokee families to look in your heart and, if possible, open your doors and your lives to a Cherokee child. If that is not possible, please give what you are able to and support our ICW office as it fights for Cherokee children. 

To find out more about the “Chosen One” campaign or to learn more about our foster and adoptive programs, visit www.cherokeekids.org or call 918-458-6900.

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Physician compensation plan positions Cherokee Nation health care for better future

The Cherokee Nation recently took a major step towards a stronger and brighter future for our health system. By boosting the compensation of the doctors and other health care professionals who care for our Cherokee people, we have laid a stronger foundation for consistent quality care. The professionals in our system are responsible with caring for our patients. They improve, and literally save, so many Cherokee and Native lives each year.


The new plan increases pay and incentives for doctors and advanced providers. The increase includes raising base pay, about a $35,000 increase for physicians in primary care, as well as providing a quarterly incentive based on work quality. Under this plan, every physician and advanced practitioner will see a raise. It will raise the threshold pay to the region’s market rate, which will affect about 120 doctors and advanced level providers who administer care in the tribe’s nine health centers and W.W. Hastings Hospital.


We devised a plan to raise salaries that is responsible and affordable. Our health leadership team, led by Connie Davis and Dr. Charles Grim, along with my cabinet leaders, studied the issue, listened to our doctors and sought input from the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council. Collectively, we are all committed to providing the best health care possible to the Cherokee people. We want our citizens to have access to the best quality care, and that starts with our physicians. Building a level of trust and peace of mind for our doctors will only improve health care opportunities for our people in the long term.


To meet the growing demands on our system, we need to recruit and retain the best doctors we can. We recognize that in the competitive environment of rural health care, we had to take immediate steps in order to attract and retain quality doctors.


Cherokee Nation operates the largest tribal health system in the United States, and our hospital and clinics see more than 1 million patient visits per year, and we are growing rapidly. We are investing $200 million to build a new facility through a joint venture with Indian Health Service. IHS will provide more than $90 million annually for staffing and operations.  It will make Hastings the largest tribal health campus in the United States. It will open in 2019, and we will need to fill close to 900 new health care jobs.


This will only help us maximize our substantial commitment and investment to improved health care. In the end, these dollars will come back to us in the form of better health for the Cherokee people, more competitive applicants and more stability within our health facilities.

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Celebrating Native and Indigenous Peoples

Tulsa is the heart of Indian Country in America, and I applaud the city’s leaders for adopting Native American Day on the second Monday in October. This move is important and the right thing to do. Tulsa has been and will always be shaped by the tribes that live in the region. It is part of Cherokee Nation’s history and jurisdiction. Almost 35,000 Cherokees live in the Tulsa area. Tribes, including the Cherokee, Osage and Muscogee Creek, have lived and embraced this region prior to statehood.


The city of Tulsa, the state of Oklahoma and our country itself should recognize this truer and more accurate celebration of life, culture and influence. Native people had a history and heritage in the Americas long before Christopher Columbus ever set sail.


Proper historians know that Christopher Columbus did not discover America. The truth is that he committed atrocities, including slavery and genocide, against Native peoples. He was a destroyer of culture. Perpetuating the Columbus myth does not make us better as Americans, in fact it does the opposite. It makes all less aware of our history and our reality today. Celebrating antiquated and highly inaccurate chapters of history does a disservice to everyone, especially our youth, and our future together.


Every tribe's history is different, but largely, the United States of America and its founding documents grew up around and within Native American tribes and our cultures. My hope is that Native American Day will encourage people to learn about and respect Native contributions to history and this country.


Tulsa joins other Oklahoma cities like Anadarko, McAlester, Norman and Tahlequah, the capital city of the Cherokee Nation, to embrace the day’s name. Nationally, cities with high Indian populations have rebranded the day as Indigenous Peoples Day, a national movement led by the National Congress of American Indians. Major cities like Albuquerque, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Seattle have joined states like Alaska and South Dakota in making the transition.


The Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission, an intertribal group and a city of Tulsa appointed commission that has many strong Cherokee leadership voices, deserves credit for spearheading this effort. Thanks goes to Mayor G.T. Bynum as well. Early in his tenure he made a commitment to work with and listen to Tulsa’s tribal partners like the Cherokee Nation and has fulfilled that promise.


As Indian people, we have left an undeniable impact in America and here in Oklahoma. We have one of the largest Native American populations in the United States. Cherokee Nation alone has an economic impact in northeast Oklahoma of more than $2 billion. The other 37 federally recognized tribes also make significant contributions, both financially and culturally, to our home state.
Tribes are a good partner in Oklahoma’s success from job creation to infrastructure development, and we are good stewards of our vital natural resources – air, water and land.  I think these things are worth celebrating.


It is time to embrace Native American Day or Indigenous Peoples Day. Whatever it is called, the spirit is honorable and justified.  Oklahoma should be the national leader in honoring the culture, heritage and traditional lifeways of our ancestors and of who we are today as successful and modern sovereign governments. This day honors our tribal people and the tribes of Oklahoma.

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