November 2011Vol. 12, No. 8Findings From the NRC4Tribes TA Needs Assessment
The National Resource Center for Tribes (NRC4Tribes) has released Findings From the NRC4Tribes Technical Assistance Needs Assessment, which summarizes the needs assessment that the NRC conducted during the first year of its 5-year contract. The goal of the needs assessment was to identify the systemic and practice challenges of Tribal child welfare programs and to develop and provide appropriate training and technical assistance (T&TA) for the next 4 years of the project.
Almost all of the 565 federally recognized Tribes provide child protection services to their children and families through their own child welfare and judicial programs. Although the Tribes have sovereign-nation status, funding and resources for welfare programs to Native families are provided by the Federal Government, including the Children's Bureau.
To conduct the needs assessment, NRC4Tribes staff conducted interviews, administered surveys, and held onsite assessments with more than 400 stakeholders. Among the respondents were Tribal child welfare program directors, caseworkers, and supervisors; Tribal court judges and attorneys; client families and foster parents; and community partners and providers.
The major topic areas identified in the report for T&TA focus were the following:
- Tribal child welfare practice
- Foster care and adoption
- The Indian Child Welfare Act
- Legal and judicial issues
- Tribal child welfare program operations
The report describes the findings as a first step in building a more comprehensive foundation of knowledge about Tribal child welfare programs, and it offers 10 recommendations and implementation strategies for addressing the topic areas through T&TA.
Both the full report and its executive summary are available on the NRC4Tribes website: